Super Mario Apocalypse 3: The Great Destroyer
by Ironfoot
Summary: The word is out: the world is ending and no amount of heroism can stop it. As the world slowly crumbles apart, the Koopalings try not to crumble along with it as survival becomes the biggest priority. But no one knows what the world is truly capable of doing... Part Three of the Apocalypse series.
1. 32: A Million Tomorrows

_Welcome to the third installment of Super Mario Apocalypse. If you are yet unacquainted with this series, this is a story focused on the rise of the older Koopalings during the end of the world. That's not to say that other Mario characters don't make appearances as they will throughout the story, but the focus will remain on the Koopalings._

_This story is in many ways a reflection of what is currently happening in reality (and may possibly happen in the future). This includes climate change, erratic weather, earthquakes, flooding and so forth. Just look up these phenomena on Youtube and see the wacky weather that's been happening all over the world. This story is my personal message in regards to that._

_Before I start, there are a few sources that I would like to give credit to that also serve as my inspiration. These include ZetaTalk, Immanuel Velikovsky, Zecharia Sitchin, Erich von Daniken and a number of authors dedicated to esoteric study. Separating the wheat from the chaff, or the truth from the lies, one arrives at a stranger picture of reality than one would imagine. Again, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the story.  
_

* * *

A heavy bulldozer pushed a pile of rubble across the road, clearing the way for vehicles to continue forward along its perpendicular. Behind it was a line of them that pushed themselves across the apocalyptic landscape, buildings damaged and abandoned, unpowered and dark from the disasters it had brunted. In their shadows were a few people who watched on, unable to gather themselves to the reality before them. Walking alongside the vehicles were the somewhat more stable minded, though in truth their hearts were still in shock as to all that happened thus far. The Koopa Kingdom as they knew it had been all but destroyed, from the battles with the UmNaru to the upheavals caused by the monster that lay above the skies. In truth, they didn't want to believe the horrific truth the kings had given them, wanting the easy way out: living their old lives. But their logic tore their hearts, with the reality clear before them: The Great Destroyer of legend had returned, and a pole shift was once again imminent. Down trodden and absorbed in themselves, most walked with hearts conflicted between survival and a more painless existence.

The sky had grown dark above them since they had first set out to their new homeland, as announced by the "Kings and Queen of the Koopas" as they were now called. The storm was rushing right towards them, straight from the western Koopa Crags, their current destination. At the front of the long envoy, a large tank came to a halt at sight of the incoming weather. Opening the porthole, Morton Koopa Jr. climbed out and looked at the sky with a somewhat worried expression. He could not leave anything to chance now. The Great Destroyer had only begun to ravage the lands below it, and Morton knew that they would not be able to afford looking the other way for much longer. He only wished a few of his siblings saw the same way.

Looking behind him, he watched the long caravan halt like a caterpillar as he took out his binoculars to find the Koopa he was looking for. Spotting his vehicle well outside his vocal range, Morton put his binoculars away and grabbed his CB radio nearby.

"Delta 5, this is Alpha 9, over." he said. Nothing was heard for a moment.

"This is Delta 5, please proceed." came the response, a cultured tone synonymous with King Ludwig Von Koopa.

"The monster is throwing us a storm." relayed Morton. "I suggest doing a radar sweep ahead of us."

Farther down the convoy inside of a more futuristic and luxurious vehicle, King Ludwig scratched his chin in thought, peeking at the many small displays in front of him. Besides the Earthquakes, the weather had not gotten quite bad yet for the area, although the morning frost from the day before was not lost on him. He could see super-cells beginning to form just ahead of the crags, but he was no meteorologist; predicting their severity was not Ludwig's forte. But one thing was for sure: thunderstorms were not the typical weather found around the kingdom, which resembled more of a hot desert. Next to him stirred Queen Kylie, who had some trouble sitting up due to her now bigger belly. Seemingly reading his thoughts, she smiled and put her hand on his shoulder.

"You really don't have to do everything." she suggested. "Let the boys take care of it."

Ludwig sighed. While she was right, he didn't like hearing it. "I apologize dear, but I cannot help myself." he replied. "I must do everything that I can."

"Let those who know better make the call." said Kylie. "You were planning on continuing anyways, weren't you?"

"I won't lie." was all Ludwig said as he continued to deliberate the situation. Eventually he hummed and took hold of his radio. "Theta 7," he called, "What does the upper atmosphere currently show?"

"Hi Ludwig," came Lemmy Koopa's response, not caring for radio jargon. Flying above the lower cloud layers inside the ancient ship he discovered not too long ago, he could clearly see the storm clouds ahead of him, their large white tops reaching up into space. From his perspective, this was not normal weather. These were thunderstorm clouds, something he had never seen above the Koopa Kingdom in his life.

"Yeah, these are thunderstorms." Lemmy relayed. "Pretty big ones, with the big fluffy tops. Oh shit, I just saw lightning in one of them."

"So I have surmised." said Ludwig. "My thanks." Ludwig turned to a different frequency. "I will require your expertise on the current weather. What is your analysis?"

"Super-cell storms have formed off the western basin." came the reply. "Fueled by a warm front that is somehow extending its reach all the way up here. But my main concern is is the rotation some of these cells are showing."

"Rotation?" echoed Ludwig. Back at the front of the convoy, the wind began to increase dramatically, a moist air reminiscent of the tropics. Morton saw the dark line of clouds headed toward him, but his eyes were on a section that seemed to be extending towards the ground. "If that's what I think it is, then we need to move."

"Hm?" came Ludwig's reply, and Morton simply rolled his eyes. And he thought he was thick headed.

"It's a tornado, a twister." Morton explained. "Yeah, never happened in this kingdom before and I don't know how the hell its staying alive, but here it is."

Ludwig rubbed his forehead. "My apologies, my person is being rather sloth currently. I remember them rolling across the Mushroom Plains in my youth and they are not to be underestimated. A detoured route would now be most effective, though I understand that few pathways have been cleared of hubris."

The tornado touched the ground, just outside of the urban center to their southwest. Churning up debris, it seemed to be headed straight towards them.

"Keep moving forward?" suggested Morton. But Ludwig knew the decision wasn't as easy as Morton presumed it to be. Most of the inner city streets were still congested with debris. Breaking up the caravan in all directions may be futile, as not all vehicles were capable of climbing the rubble on their own. There was the idea of relocating those in lighter vehicles into the heavier artillery, but that would take too long of a time, not to mention the tanks eating up most of the fuel supply due to the increased weight. Either away, Ludwig knew they were sitting ducks unless something was done, and fast.

"I'm seeing a lot of spinning clouds up here." Lemmy relayed with a worried tone. This seemed to propel Ludwig to action, finally making up his mind. He shifted his radio frequency to Channel 11, the common station for the military.

"Too all commanders of artillery." Ludwig began. "This is the King. Inclement weather approaches, and precautions must be taken to ensure the survival of the exodus. To all those individuals responsible for the clearing of debris, take the nearest street along with a group of vehicles no less than five at a time. Using your fine judgement, travel in a westerly direction as the weather permits, reporting to your highest officer on board. This is the best strategy for surviving what appears to be a tornado, which is currently moving towards our position." Even as he said this, more funnel clouds were seen descending from the sky and those who saw them already got the hint. The company began to break up, turning onto side streets with tanks hoisting large plows leading the way.

"As always, betrayal in my company is forbidden, punishable by death." Ludwig reminded them. "But of course, this only applies to those serving under my administration. Citizens are free to come and go as they wish. Upon reaching the pass, report to Gamma 7 who shall direct your inquiries. God speed." With that, he switched the frequency to Channel 7. "Commander Rapport, please lead my company through the nearest northerly crossroad and head towards the pass in this manner."

"Sir!" came the reply, and after switching to Channel 13 Ludwig finally laid back and relaxed, mostly certain he did the right thing.

"I don't even remember the last time I saw a Tornado." commented Kylie. "Maybe I've been here for too long."

"The now former Koopa Kingdom was not subject to much severe weather," said Ludwig. "The crevasses that vent the magma flows often kept congested cloud formation away from this vicinity, excluding pyroclastic cloud of course. The crags also prevent moisture from the Koopai region from flowing into the area. Hence, the region is a vast rocky desert with little water, which had been an ongoing problem for most residents. Funny, as ice accumulates upon much of the surrounding mountainous region."

"I never saw it rain here, now that you mention it." commented Kylie.

"It is a rare sight indeed." said Ludwig. "And any cloud formation that does not dissipate simply produces silent lightnings with little else before moving on. If these are true thunderstorms ahead of us, then the weather of the world is indeed changing."

As if on cue, raindrops were heard falling on their roof, soon accompanied by louder clangs.

"Speak of the devil." Ludwig muttered.

"Is that hail?" Kylie asked.

"Yes, your highness." came the voice of their driver.

"Can I see?"

But Ludwig stopped her. "Let me reorient a monitor." Ludwig sat up and twirled one his outer cameras to the roof of their metallic vehicle. Hail the size of golf balls were seen pounding it and the surrounding vicinity.

"Wow, that's a sign." Kylie said half to herself. "I'm glad we're getting out of here, though I sort of miss this place already."

"Not to mention the damage that will be sustained." Ludwig muttered. That reminded him of Morton, and he forced himself to sit up again.

"Alpha 9, come in." he relayed. There was silence. No response came.

"Alpha 9, respond." Again there was nothing. Ludwig did not know that his calls were being drowned out by the pouring rain, the wind and the howling of Morton's tank as Morton peered out of the porthole trying to think of a way out of his circumstance. While the original Tornado was long moved past him, another had formed to his northeast and was moving towards him on a parallel path, Debris had already begun to fall from the high winds, littering roads previously cleared. For some reason, his driver began to slow down.

"What are you doing?" Morton shouted at his driver, thinking him insane.

"Dude, that thing is headed right towards us!" he cried back, but Morton swore to himself. He climbed back down into the cockpit and pulled the driver from his seat.

"You don't just stop and die, you fucking go!" Morton put the pedal to the metal and zoomed off straight towards the oncoming twister. The remains of the standing skyscrapers began to teeter back and forth, tossing more debris in his path.

"You guys behind me, I'm detouring to the left!" Morton announced on his radio.

"There's another tornado forming down that way!" came the response, and Morton tossed the radio behind him in frustration. "Fucking great. Then let's just steamroll through this shit, why don't we?" He didn't have much of a choice now, save for turning around and that was not his style. The tornado to his right came closer, traveling on a steady course to the East. The winds picked up dramatically, and loose debris began to fly by the tank.

"Close the hatch!" Morton ordered his driver, "Oh and get my radio." The skyscraper to his right suddenly leaned forward and then crumbled to the left, immediately prompting Morton to veer to the left, avoiding falling stonework that crumbled to the road on his right. The building looked ready to split in half.

His former driver handed him the radio. "Drive as fast as you fucking can!" Morton ordered, well aware the building could fall onto the road at any second. Another building, a one story line of shops suddenly exploded in flames and Morton had to veer back to the right. His line of sight became increasingly clouded by rain and debris, not to mention the funnel of the tornado that was virtually right next to him.

"Hey Lemmy!" Morton called into his radio. "I need another pair of eyes. Where are these tornado's going?"

"Uhm..." Lemmy squinted and tried to follow the slow movement of the twisters. Poor Lemmy could not do much else, being above cloud line without any weather equipment and already near the opening to the Koopahari pass. But after thinking for moment, he pressed a button next to him and a grid of the local topography came into view on his large display, overlaying the cloud layer. "Oh, that helps. There's a twister right next to you."

"I know!" Morton shouted.

"Okay then. There's another one headed to you, but I think you're going fast enough to outrun it."

An explosion was what Lemmy heard in response along with crunching noises. "Yeah, that was the other one." Morton shouted back. "I'm going straight to the pass and will wait there. Can you see anything else in my way?"

"Twisters? No." relayed Lemmy. "There's a lot of crap on the ground and a lot of rain though."

"So nothing new. Okay, thanks." Morton's tank was crushing stone and wood underneath it, along with debris normally found inside homes and offices. While the twisters seemed to be past him, the damage it left behind wasn't. Many parts of the city now resembled a large yard of rubble, with lines of people trying to push past it all to the other side. It seemed nature had decided to throw them the punches straight after King Ludwig's announcement to the populace. But that just encouraged Morton to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. His father was dead and so was his kingdom. It was time to move on.

Eventually, Morton made it to the Koopahari pass opening, a two-lane highway that cut straight into the mountains and out of sight. Just outside of it was a large camp set upon the lower hills, with Lemmy's star flag raised. It appeared that Lemmy intended to go no further that day and Morton didn't really blame him.

He pulled up on the slopes of a vacant hill and shut off the tank. The line behind him got the hint and stopped in the surrounding area. His former driver seemed eager to get out and for a moment Morton considered stopping him. But after seeing him skimp out and run across the hill to the north, he realized that would have been futile. His day was hardly over.

Morton climbed through the port hole, shutting and locking it before jumping down from the tank. He made his way to Lemmy's camp, but saw several others rushing towards him, each shouting something frantic.

"Hey! I got a call from one of the groups down there." said one. "They're stuck, I guess they're blocked by debris from those tornado's."

"Yeah, I got one too." said another. "Nothing we could do then though."

"Well, we could help now." said yet another. "Has there been anything from King Ludwig?"

"No, so here's what we're doing." said Morton. "If you're in my company...you, you and you, head out there and see what you can do. Bring one or two empty jeeps each, but no more than that. We're on rations, remember? Rest of us need to set up camp. Leave room for King Ludwig on the other side, I'll try and get a hold of him."

"Well, there's a plan." one of them remarked and the rest scattered in various directions. Morton took the radio from his belt. "Delta 5, come in." he relayed, There was no response. Looking out across the kingdom, he could see the tornado's continue to march eastward across the rocky outcrops into the inner city, though the worst of it having passed from his location. For a moment, Morton wondered about Roy who had decided to stay behind in King John's castle, but he had too much on his hands at the moment to do much else.

"Delta 5, this is Alpha 9. Come in." Morton relayed again, impatiently tapping his foot. It wouldn't have surprised him if Ludwig got caught in the rubble. Then again, he was no Bowser and no one would be ever again.

"A Koopa like the rest of us, huh?" Morton muttered under his breath. "Theta 7. This is Alpha 9. Come in."

"Roger roger. What's up?" came Lemmy's voice.

"Big Wig's MIA." said Morton.

"You see? I told you I had a bad feeling about this whole thing!" Lemmy complained.

"Yeah well, we can't stop it now." said Morton. "We gotta keep going. So as my new commander in chief, do you approve of camping here for tonight? I assume that's what you had in mind."

"That was, yeah." responded Lemmy. "And go through the mountains in the morning. We;re going to have supper soon over here if you guys don't want to waste your food."

"I'll take you up on that offer." Morton said, unable to say no to free food. "Hey, did you send out any guys out for-"

"Yeah, there's a few of my guys out there." said Lemmy. "I don't know if splitting up like that was a good idea. It would have been better to just stick together instead of driving all over the place."

"I get what he did." said Morton. "But we might lose time for this. Well, whatever. If everyone gets here in one piece, that's what matters." With that, Morton put his radio away and made his way over to Lemmy's encampment for that evening's supper, thankful for free food.

* * *

Within the halls of Genlic people went to and fro, all with a sense of purpose as to their duty. Each one at least seemed to know of their purpose: some carried supplies, others had carts full of them. Short lines remained in queue for the light elevators that transported them to their proper levels, much of them headed towards the agricultural sectors below the ground level. Each of them worked their part of the job to stay within the fortress. Their effects were awarded with a share of the food and a place to rest. The work put in comes back to them.

Larry sighed, leaning against a railing overlooking the ground level from above. They were bees, but each had a similar dream of self sustainability. He had that dream also, but what has he done to earn his position?

"Thats it." he muttered. There was a reason why he was being excluded from the latest council meetings. Well, not so much excluded as ignored. His presence was no longer required, and the council he set up seemed to have a mind of its own. At first thought, Larry could shrug it off to his job as the Blood King, helping the Koopa Kingdom pack up and migrate to their new location. But upon seeing those people during the announcement the day prior and his latest "antagonism" as Ludwig called it, there was more to this problem than he thought. People were heading in different directions and he felt it. What disturbed him was that Iggy was saying nothing about it. He probably feared his reaction, but regardless Larry had figured it out himself. People were polarizing, from apathy to selflessness or selfishness. Wendy seemed to be a case in point. Granted she was always obsessed about herself, but her point of view seemed to have hardened to a sole focus on herself. She did not give a care about anyone else. The people that moved below him were of a completely different mindset. This was mutual cooperation, each playing a part to sustain the whole. Then you had all the people in between, those whose lives became harder everyday due to the Earth changes. Were they being forced to make a decision?

What was causing all of this? If this was spiritual in origin, then it had nothing to do with the Destroyer. Larry knew that he had more questions than answers as far as that went. Iggy was silent on a lot of this. Perhaps he thought that people were not ready yet. Regardless, it seemed that he was going to have to find the answers himself.

Larry inhaled, trying not to think of his own problems. They were on the edge of his mind, and he knew he had to focus on the people in front of him if they were to be resolved. What happened that night could not happen again. He needed to not just be the head of all this, but to be a part of it all. It was one thing to see his dream come true, but it was another to live in that dream. He hadn't been living in it, and that needed to change.

Larry walked towards one of the light elevators, which brought him down to the ground level. He walked into the crowds as if he were one of them. Due to his height people took notice, giving him glances as he walked past them. Thankfully, they didn't stop what they were doing but Larry felt awkward, realizing how out of touch he had become. It was his selfishness, his fear of being hurt but Larry forced himself to think positively. He had to learn how to work inside of the dream he created.

Wading through the crowds, Larry made his way to one of the larger light elevators, undeniably made for beings of larger stature. The people surrounding him simply made room for him without a fuss, like he was simple one of them. Larry felt awkward as the elevator descended down into the agricultural floors of Genlic. He had anticipated a cold reception thus far but judging from the looks on their faces, this did not seem to be the case.

The elevator stopped: it was an agricultural level that grew a variety of mushrooms. Despite the subterranean location of the farm, the level was well lit with many LED lamps shining down from above, casting a pale white over everything. Intermixed were the yellow sun lamps that sat just above each row, imitating the real thing. Rows of mushrooms were tended by workers that numbered close to 100, the maximum capacity for such a work force. A line of workers with wheelbarrows filled with mushrooms waited for them along the side of the wall: a harvesting party.

With the rest of the crowd, Larry walked off the elevator and into the plantation. He meandered into one of the rows, watching the workers pluck the mushrooms from the ground. It reminded him of his own gardening skills, something he wished to employ with greater awareness. They had employed his hydroponics idea, feeding the rows of mushrooms with water piped underneath the fortress. However, he noticed the mushrooms were a bit smaller than they could have been.

'Excuse me," Larry said to a worker in front of him, "Have these mushrooms always been this small?"

"Well sir, you know we don't add preservatives to our stock." he said, a Koopa Troopa with light blue jean shorts. "Or add fertilizers that ain't natural. What you see is what we've been getting since we started planting these."

"Well, this is the normal method." explained Larry. "But there's a way to make them about one third bigger than that. It depends on a lot of things." He looked at the sun lamps above, soon realizing he would have to check the electrical control room to see their intensity.

"Hey, aren't you one of the board members?" asked the Koopa Troopa.

Larry sighed. "I am, but I'm just getting back into the swing of things. They don't know about this method, clearly. Well, thank you for your time."

"My pleasure, anything to help." said the Koopa Troopa as Larry walked across the plantation and towards another elevator. And that's how his day went: hunting down the members of the board to discuss his idea for a bigger mushroom yield by increasing unit volume, and and implementing the method before having to rewrite harvesting procedures for the workers. It was a day he did not expect as nobody seemed angry at him for being gone for so long due to his troubles with the kingdom northwest of him. They had gotten along fine without him.

That's right, he wasn't really needed, was he?

Dinner soon arrived, and work came to a close as people rushed to the handful of levels designed for eating. They had congregated themselves en mass within those floors and opened up a variety of eateries on their own time. To these the flocks rushed, wanting to savior the creative mixtures of the harvest just days past by the hands of cooks and artists. The place was an echoing ruckus; Larry was simply another one of the herd looking for his daily share. Maneuvering through the crowd, he scanned the line of vendors along the walls, trying to decide what to eat. One vendor stood out, not only for it's long line but for what it offered: pizza.

Dubbed "Mona's Pizza," it seemed that Mona stayed true to her word and had opened up a pizza shop in the eatery, becoming one of the more popular establishments. Larry ended up waiting for longer than he anticipated, but he almost didn't notice the time pass as he was still lost in his own mind.

"Next!" Larry looked up and suddenly saw he was next. Time was indeed flying by.

"Wow, the big Koopa himself is here!" cheered Mona. "How about I get you the house special?"

"Nah, that's okay." said Larry. "I'll just be like everybody else. 3 slices of Mushroom pizza please."

"Alright, but I don't want you to pay a coin." Mona said and Larry reluctantly nodded his head. Quickly cutting him 3 slices, she put them on a paper plate and smiled. "We're recycling those too, by the way. Thank you for stopping by!" Larry forced a smile before walking off, leaving the woman with a puzzled expression.

He already had his eating spot made up, but it took him a few minutes to reach using the light elevators. Within the upper levels classified as being his domain was the perfect spot to watch the sun set across the ocean. Reached by a type of circular elevator similar to the one used during his initiation, it was a seemingly gaping hole in the black walls of Genlic, with two large seats protruding from the floor below. Larry took the left seat and immediately munched on his pizza, having waited long enough for it. For once, his thoughts were silenced: the pizza was that good. It was a break from worry and he was not about to lose it. Because of this, he was unaware of the entity staring at him from inside the too his right. It was only when it stepped out onto the floor did Larry immediately look up, before relaxing.

"Hello...Larry." said Ashley, now a transparent image of her previous incarnation. This was the first time Larry had seen her walk out of the walls of Genlic.

"What's going on, Ashley?" Larry asked, eating his pizza again. But Ashley did not respond, instead looking out over the sea towards the setting sun, now glowing orange and casting its rays over the water. At length, she eyed her former lover chowing on his pizza crust like an animal. That's right, we were all animals at one point, weren't we?

Ashley sat down on the seat next to him, her glare lost in the water. "I'm running out of time." she said.

"With what?" asked Larry, finishing his last piece of crust.

"Here. I must start my next incarnation soon." stated Ashley. Larry stopped eating and looked at her. "The spirits are calling me. I must let you go."

Larry felt something inside of him then, something he realized he had long denied. "You know, I wish I had done...more with you."

"So do I." said Ashley. "I still linger because I regret...not saying how much I loved you."

Larry nodded. "I...am a coward, Ashley." he struggled to say. "That's why I never told you. I love you, and I mean it. I meant everything."

"Larry, risk getting hurt." Ashley said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"It is far better to risk getting hurt then to be afraid and regret what you could have done. You loved me, but you were hard to open."

Larry looked on in silence.

"Don't regret me." she continued. "I want you to be happy. Find someone and don't let me hold you back."

"...we have to let go of each other so we can both be happy." Larry said, finally understanding.

"Yes..." Ashley put on a rare smile. "I can't thank you enough, by the way..."

"It was what you wanted, so I incinerated it." said Larry. "Nothing is left of your body but ash."

"My existence here has been wiped clean." said Ashley. "Good."

Larry looked down at his plate. "And now I mean it. I'm sorry..." But when he looked up, the seat was empty as if no one had been there.

"...for being a coward." he finished to himself. The sun glowed a bright red as it continued to descend towards the horizon, illuminating his space with a fiery glow. Larry put his hand on his forehead and sighed, finally losing what he long denied could be lost.

"Goodbye, Ashley." Absorbed in himself, time became lost as a flood of thoughts and feelings rushed past him. All of those worries and regrets broke over his dam of self control, a new perception taking shape in his mind. Ashley was right. Too much time was wasted in worry and regret. He needed to live his life, not relive his past. But how could that be done without getting hurt?

He opened his eyes and saw another pair of scaly feet in front of him. Looking up, he saw an immense Koopa King with decorated horns and dressed in leather surrounding various colors of body paint. He guessed him to be one of the Blood Kings from upstairs, but why would he be here and why now?

The Koopa spoke something in his native language, and with a grunt walked past him towards the hallway. Looking behind him, Larry saw a line of similarly dressed Koopas, though shorter in stature moving left to right across the hall. Surmising that the kings were trying to show him something, Larry got up from his seat and walked towards the line. As he got closer, it became clear that the people were transparent. Indeed, this was a vision that one of the Blood Kings wanted to show.

Larry walked down with them, growing suspicious as to their intent. The normally darkened hallways were instead illuminated with the red light of the sun, and around a corner he saw the outside, filled with huts and dancing folk. A humid air blew over him and Larry winced, trying to take in the full view. The climate was much more arid and he guessed that Genlic must have been inside the tropical zone in the past, given the rocky climate it contained during the present day. It had been forecasted for Genlic to move into such a climate again after the pole shift. Surely this had something to do with it.

But he had thought too long: the ancient Blood King was gone. Larry rounded a curve and attempted to retrace his steps, moving past other tribal Koopa's who didn't seem to take notice of him. He reached a small theater with the back wall open to the outside, and a large red sun that beamed its light in. He was on a level above the greater audience, where many below sat and played a variety of instruments of crude design. Others sang along in the same language from before, but Larry's mind as not on the song. He knew where he was in regards to Genlic. He was facing the eastern plain that stretched into the distance, a sight that looked somewhat familiar here. What was not familiar was the sun, which he could clearly see lowering in the eastern sky in front of him. Did that mean Genlic had turned 180 degrees, and was essentially upside down?

His thoughts were interrupted by a cry, which ceased the song making. From the right came the Blood King, standing over the others and giving a speech in his own tongue. Stopping, he suddenly looked at Larry and smirked, with the latter folding his arms and shifting his weight. He still had no idea what this guy's intent was.

With a short spoken order, another being entered from the left: a Blood Queen. Larry inhaled and finally knew where this was going, or so he thought. The King and Queen came together and joined hands, and those sitting immediately stood at the action, looking at their leaders with respectful faces. The two exchanged a short conversation, both looking glad about something.

"Easier said than done." Larry muttered to himself. "These aren't the ancient days anymore." The Blood Queen looked at him with a wondrous face, then turned to her mate and said a few words. Turning to Larry, both monarchs raised the Blood Wand, split into its polarities and emitted a light at their tips: one fuchsia and one blue. The colors beamed toward the sun behind them, twirling between each other. They were joined by other pairs of colors, six in all that circled around the sun. The sun grew brighter, a white light growing in the center that soon engulfed the entire sight of Larry's vision.

When he blinked, the Blood King and Queen were gone and so were all the tribal people. The sun had disappeared, replaced with a night sky carrying echoes of thunder. Below him were another gathering of people, some playing instruments, some singing along while others enjoyed the atmosphere. 9-volt had his keyboard rigged to a small amplifier and had started the equivalent of a jam band. Others cheered them along, especially Bombette who looked quite cheerful.

But Larry had not moved, still staring out into the darkness with folded arms. He was scared, yet they had it. What did they risk? Everything, for understanding. After all, the unknown breeds fear and insecurity. He knew what that was like, always did. But he couldn't let the unknown control him any longer. He needed to see the other side: understanding.

He regained control of his body through sheer willpower and managed to unfold his arms and begin walking again, towards the left. He walked along a hallway and up a long ramp which led into a room he saw nearly every morning: the conference room. Now it was dark and unlit, save for a flicker of lightning signaling an approaching storm. Larry knew that this was no weather of Genlic, which had rapid and thick streaks of lightning. Neither was the region susceptible to rain, being a temperate desert. It was all undeniably the wobble the world was going through, trying to realign itself back to the sun while the Great Destroyer told it otherwise. At least that's what Ludwig and his own research told him.

"Everyone is closing themselves up." came a voice, feminine. There was a silhouette of someone sitting on one of the chairs, slumped over the table. "What the hell am I going to do? No one's really alive, they just exist. They're just walking bodies."

Larry said nothing, slowly coming to the realization that he was not in this alone. Gathering himself, he moved to the end of the long table and sat in its seat, folding his hands in front of him.

"Tools." she said. "Why are people such tools?"

"They were made that way, frankly." said Larry. She looked up and Larry saw it was Mona. It definitely did sound like her. "That wasn't the original intent," he continued. "But slaves are fearful of anything they cannot understand."

"Those people are not slaves." she said. "So why do they act like them?"

Larry couldn't say anything. He had only begun to re-immerse himself in the daily life.

"I try so hard to open them up, but all they have are those fake smiles." Mona muttered. "I-"

"They are hurting already." said Larry, realizing why they had never payed any attention to him. "And the shift's not even in full swing yet."

"What can I do?" Mona asked, finally looking at him, but in the near darkness little of her could be made out. Mona's interests went unrequited, a painful result which after months of burial had seemingly burst out in tears. It seemed the expression of true emotion was forbidden during the last days. What was a darkened face, but another being simply existing? What happened to light in people's faces? Hidden no doubt, but to Larry not forgotten. He wanted to do something, but didn't know what.

But after another flash of lightning, something hit him then, a gut feeling. Sometimes, the solution to a complicated problem was simple.

"I can't deal with this shit..." Mona whispered to herself. At that, Larry got up and walked to the windows behind her, staring out over the vast rocky desert to his east, Lightning was flashing across the landscape with a few droplets falling to the ground.

"What am I going to do?" Mona asked aloud.

"Want a hug?" Larry offered. Mona sighed to herself and got up. "Yeah...I need one." They embraced and she hugged him tightly, glad to finally have some comfort.

"I'm so sick of-"

"Sh, stop complaining." said Larry. "You're in one of the best shelters in the world. It could be a lot worse. Even then, people are not going to be perfect in a crumbling world, even in this place. You have to keep your head up."

Mona smiled, unable to let go. "You know, I need someone to hold onto...can I stay with you tonight?"

Larry immediately raised his brows but Mona laughed at the sight. "I didn't mean it like that! I just need someone to hold onto."

"I was going to say I'm not accepting a princess right now." said Larry.

"Good, cause I'm nothing like one. I'm more broken than that."

"So you need an oversized teddy bear." Larry said.

"So? That could be cute." said Mona. "You know, I'm going to get you one now."

"I still have my childhood blankie." Larry confessed.

"Oh, he confessed!" Mona remarked. "Do you still use it?"

"No, and you can';t make me." said a defiant Larry.

"That's okay, you can hold onto me." The two held onto each other in silence for more than a few moments, until Larry's stomach started to growl. Evidently, the pizza he had wasn't enough.

Let's get some supper." he suggested.

"I already gave you yours." Mona pointed out. "It wasn't enough?"

"Plus you deserve it more than me." nodded Larry. "And I need some real meat."

"Carnivore." Mona looked at her watch. "We should probably head down there before people hit their sacks. If we're lucky, we can snag a good meal."

"We're been lucky so far." said Larry. But that's all he could say as they made their way back to the food court. They have been very lucky so far.


	2. 33: Kappur

The door opened: the roar of the heat, the clinking of the chains and most of all, a million cries of agony and anger filled Roy Koopa's ears. The castle dungeons were the problem. It wasn't the increasingly lawless lands on the surface that were a threat. Desires put on a leash were easily taken care of: bribes, drink, cheap sex, it didn't matter. But when your desires puts the leash around you, it's a different story. Controlled by them, they landed up here during Bowser's reign as common criminals, hackers, treasoners, conspirators especially. The first level held the easy ones like that. The dungeons were like a rotten onion: the more you peeled back, the worse it got. And considering the Earth Changes, Roy knew the place was a ticking bomb waiting to go off unless he kept the place under control. In his mind, he knew that as far as this place went, Ludwig was doing the right thing. If these fuckers ever got loose to the surface, they'd tear apart what was left and give everyone a new asshole to work with. Except, now the kingdom was being relocated and they'd get nothing but rubble and the occasional straggler instead. Good Plan. But the problem wasn't the guys on level one getting free.

The heat increased dramatically as Roy rounded the corner to the "open pit" of level one: a vast underground lake of lava criss-crossed with metal cages hanging above it, holding many inside. Vast iron crosses bolted the larger ones for corporeal punishment, crying from their torment. Lining the walls of the lake were the minors, or petty criminals.

Seeing them, Roy suddenly stopped walking. Something hit him then, much like when the light hit him then. This was the place where his pop stored all his hatred of the world. He was gone, and this place would be following him soon. It was a gut feeling and Roy always followed his gut. He had hoped the pole shift would take care of those down here, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized it wasn't that easy. Many down here didn't deserve the shit they got. But if he let some of these guys go...

Roy started walking and made his way across the open pit, glancing at the outer edge where the minors were held. As usual, they shouted at him with many noticing his missing shades. And as usual, he kept going without saying a word. Down here, you had to keep moving.

In the back corner was an elevator shaft, crudely made with iron bars and greasy wheels. Just like man things down here, it had not been updated since the medieval ages despite the technological advances on the surface. "Not like that matters now," thought Roy as he descended through the levels. But the simple technology gave him an idea, something he would have to employ later as ruler of the "Old Kingdom."

With a shutter, the elevator came to a halt on the last level of the dungeon: level eight. It was sealed with a thick full plated door enforced with electronic security, one of the only enhancements to the place. However, the screen next to the door was unlit due to the power being cut days ago and the door was instead reinforced with many bolts around its perimeter. Stepping out, Roy walked to the right of the door and took hold of a metallic wheel, turning it with some effort. Slowly, the bolts retracted into the door until Roy reached the end of the line with a clang. With that, Roy opened the door and walked into a long narrow hallway lined with other heavily armed doors and lighted with the faint glow of lava via vents from underneath. Unlike the other levels, This hall was absolutely silent. Housing the most dangerous psychopaths and political prisoners, sound proof walls were installed to shut out their frequent cries.

Roy stopped at Cell 8263, staring at the door for a moment before quietly opening the visor to take a peek inside. Sure enough, she was up to her old antics of talking to herself. His sister would have made a maniacal queen at the end of the day and Roy wondered how much damage the UmNaru really did to her mind. But in a way, she was already like this and they just brought out the worst of her for everyone to see. In many ways, Roy knew that he should be more thankful for what Lemmy did to him during the invasion. Like Larry, if he had been under their spell for much longer, he probably would've ended up like her, or worse.

At length, he opened the cell door into the holding area, designed to talk with prisoners without having to open their cells. Wendy noticed the noise, glancing at Roy as he entered but quickly went back to talking with herself, not seeming to care.

"I really like that dress..." she murmured. "They might be my competitor, but I might have to wear it for my coronation. ..unless my lackeys can make something better. When the power comes back on and Ludwig's beaten to shit I should call them. Roy, have you guys defeated Ludwig yet?"

Roy just looked at her, disappointed that nothing had changed from the last time he saw her. "Nope." he said bluntly. "He's still alive."

"What the hell is taking so long?" Wendy complained. "I mean, I get beating Junior. Junior is dead, right?"

"Yeah, for the 3rd time." Roy answered.

"So it's obviously me then." Wendy said, walking around her cell impatiently. "Even daddy thought he was too spoiled and, lavish mind you, to even think about warning his seat. But daddy doesn't know what I can do. He never believed me and I just don't get it. Why wouldn't he pick me? What did I do wrong?" she asked in her not so innocent tone of voice.

Roy knew the right thing to say, but also knew better than to reason with a psychopath. "You should be asking..." he started, pausing for a moment. "...why the UmNaru didn't pick ya."

Wendy suddenly screamed aloud in a fit of rage and slammed the bars in front of Roy. "Don't question them!" she growled.

"No point." Roy said bluntly. "They're dead."

"You betray us?!" she hissed. "You were never much use to begin with!" She slammed the bars again, but Roy casually walked to a control panel in the wall and pushed one of the buttons inside. Wendy hit the bars harder but was electrocuted and unable to move. Eventually she fell to the ground and lay motionless as smoke rose from her body.

"Next time, I use white magic on ya." Roy said, annoyed. He was well aware that the last attempt to purge her mind using that stuff was unsuccessful. However, it didn't mean that they should stop trying.

"You alive?" He looked through the bars. Wendy had not moved, but he could see that she was still breathing. It was clear that she was fully infected with the UmNaru's black magic and from what Roy remembered from Iggy, trying to reverse that could cause brain damage.

"I'll get yer dress." Roy said.

"Why?" asked a weak Wendy.

"Cause Ludwig moved away." said Roy. "So I'll let you pretend you're queen for a while."

But Wendy scoffed. "And what about you? You would try and stop me."

Roy smirked, but did not respond. She wasn't the only one, but everyone thinks they are down here. He turned to go, having had enough of her.

* * *

"Yeah, she's gone."

Buried in a number of holographic displays, Penny Crygor looked up at the sound of his voice. "Who's gone?"

"My sister." responded King of the Spirit Iggy Koopa, sitting upon his high throne of Erzembar. "She's gone 100%. Couldn't save her in time, but you know what? " With a wave of his hand, a gigantic holographic globe manifested and expanded outwards to a large radius, in which a river of thought and circumstance could be seen. Iggy pointed to one of these, where an angered female Koopaling was seen screaming like an animal and hitting the walls of her cell.

"Penny, meet Wendy." Iggy said.

"Wow..." was all Penny could say as she watched Wendy tear up the walls with her claws as if she were a psychopath.

"She's pretty much the equivalent of that." said Iggy, commenting on her thoughts. "I tried treating her with white magic, but her mind was too absorbed in the black by that point. In her state now, her mind would collapse."

"I'm sorry." Penny muttered.

"Don't be." said Iggy, pushing the vision away. "What you see has always been her, but brought out into the open and accelerated towards full maturity. She will be like that for the rest of her life because her spirit is like that. Look at these." he pointed with his finger, rearranging the thoughts of the mass population and their physical movements into separate areas.

Penny nodded, noting the major differences. "People cope that way, Iggy." she pointed out. "Insecure people have some of the worst thoughts. They can't believe what they see, so they kill it." She looked at their violent thoughts of unweighted heroism and death again. "Over and over."

Iggy smiled. "It's not just that. All this is an effect to the cause. What's causing it? The environment? Not just that."

"Um, spirit orientation?" guessed Penny.

"Yup. Selfish is as selfish does." said Iggy. "Oh, and thank you for trying."

Penny laughed. "You know science never supported that stuff, but I definitely think there's a lot of truth to what you're saying." She looked back at her work. "But I have a bigger problem. What would happen if I became a 'Koopa Queen'?"

Dispelling the globe, Iggy jumped down from his high seat and looked at Penny's statistical analysis displayed on the screens in front of him. Human DNA was indeed a bit different.

"Makes me wish I had a record of my transformation." Iggy thought aloud. "Then I could see what my blood was doing."

"Your excreted sweat was collected following the battle with the UmNaru." Erzembar announced unexpectedly. A diagram was displayed where the holographic globe formally was, displaying transformation amongst the cells that had yet evolved to his new form.

"New species..." Iggy murmured, not having the chance to look at his new self up close until now. "The wand seems to introduce a strain that wraps itself around the double helix, which creates a set of new codons...creating a triple helix." He was silent for a moment. "So it looks like you would get many features of this strain, but since this is human DNA we're talking about-"

"Incompatibility, right?" said Penny.

"Not necessarily." said Iggy. "This is the first time I've looked at this thanks to all this stuff going on." He waved his hand erratically as if to accentuate the effect. "Really, the question is will this third strand do any damage to you?" But just as he said this, he received a brainwave. "If Penny touches the wand, will the wand automatically adjust to her genetics?" he asked Erzembar.

"Yes." replied Erzembar. "However, a human has never touched the spirit wand and its effects on this species remains unknown. By nature, if the wand is not compatible with a receptor site, it will not connect and that particular ability will remain dormant. Considering other species who have once touched the wand, it can be said that DNA destruction is non-existent."

"That's a start." Iggy mentioned.

"Okay, I'll try." sighed Penny, thankful to try something potentially less harmful. Iggy took out the Wand of the Spirit, shining brightly in all directions. After a moments hesitation, she touched his wand. At once, a million images flooded her vision and a warmth spread through her arm, and by instinct she pulled away.

"Um..."

"Doesn't work too well?" Iggy asked. "Or maybe you're just overwhelmed."

"Yeah, that." said Penny. "It might be because it's late and my mind is getting tired, so I don't have my usual control over it."

Iggy hummed to himself. "Let's hit the sack then. Most of my brothers already have. I'm sensing a big day tomorrow."

Penny rubbed her head, trying to regain focus. "How are they all doing?" Penny asked out of curiosity.

"Hm well, they've started the migration process." began Iggy as they walked towards the elevator at the far end. "And they picked a great day, because the jet stream went vertical and sent tropical moisture straight into the Koopa Kingdom. Lots of Tornado's and general destruction that I've been expecting for a while now, people starting to show cases of hysteria and psychosis...what you would expect for an end of the world scenario. I feel bad for Ludwig because he has to deal with all of that. He's a great tree that needs to bend, but not too far."

"You were saying one of them was having mental problems." said Penny upon reaching the elevator. "Well, besides your sister. It came up during that meeting you were talking about."

"Oh yeah, Larry." said Iggy, walking aboard. "Let's just say his shell is collapsing due to the transformation of the planet. Not his physical shell mind you, but his emotional shell that he's hidden in since he was a toddler. He basically needs to reinvent himself because by the time the transformation is complete, all secrets will be out in the open. This goes for Roy too, he's changed a lot since Lemmy hit him. Kinda...opened up a circuit he thought he never had." The elevator shot upwards into the higher floors of Erzembar where his retreat for the evening was located.

"What about Ludwig?" Penny asked.

"He's going to be a dad soon." Iggy announced.

"Really? In this mess?" Penny asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, well...he thinks he should have a few 'out the door' in case he gets killed by the changes or otherwise." commented Iggy. "I agree, not a good time for kids right now, but in his case he needs to solidify his position. Lemmy is next in line and doesn't want to be the next Earth King, so regardless this is going to be difficult for Ludwig. He's going to have even more mouths to feed."

Penny sighed. "Politics."

The doors opened and they walked into the hallway that led to Iggy's quarters. They were silent, each absorbed in their own thoughts, but at length Penny noticed Iggy's restlessness as he tapped his fingers on his leg.

"Is something happening tonight?" Penny asked, no longer able to contain her curiosity.

"Oh yes, definitely." Iggy responded. "No doubt about it." He sighed nervously, and it was clear to Penny that he wasn't going to tell the whole story without pestering him.

"Something to do with-"

"It involves the monarchs." Iggy said, interrupting her. "Kylie's going to be rudely awakened for sure."

"You're hiding something." Penny said suspiciously.

Iggy merely looked at her. "Yes."

"Why can't you tell me now?"

"It might change the outcome." claimed Iggy. "I'll tell you tomorrow."

Penny laughed. "Alright, fine. But I want a full explanation of what this is about."

"Easily done, after it's done." replied Iggy, pushing open the doors to his room. "But until then, I should prepare myself for that. The mass consciousness has been very depressive lately and I need to rejuvenate." He headed for his bureau where he rummaged through its drawers. In the meantime, Penny decided to brush her teeth and wonder about what the heck Iggy was talking about. Living with him was strange as it was after they confessed to each other not too long ago. It seemed that because of his "job" as King of the Spirit, there were some things that were better off to not be said at all. He had already told her of Larry's relationship problems, not to mention a few of his siblings relationships that they have kept secret from each other. Penny knew that royalty was royalty: a world of intrigue, secrecy and lies. But if what Iggy said was true, that the planet was transforming...

"Wait, what did he mean by that?" Penny asked aloud, brushing her teeth. He had not talked about the Earth "transforming" before. Since nature already has its cyclical processes, she guessed that he meant it in a more metaphorical sense in relation to civilization. But she wouldn't know until tomorrow, the deadline she would make sure Iggy would keep. While some things she understood to keep quiet about, she was growing increasingly annoyed from being left in the dark as far as what Iggy was doing. Maybe his powers had made him more self absorbed? At least that's how she felt after touching the wand, something she was not ready for. In that case, she needed to ground him back to reality.

She spit into the odd looking sink and turned a water valve to wash it clean. Somehow, the complex had a intricate piping network of hot and cold water, but considering Erzembar's very existence she knew not to question it much. She remembered Iggy telling her about a kind of distillation system set up below the complex. Feeding water from desert aquifers into the room, it evaporated the water until it settled and condensed upon a slanted ceiling made of a cooler metal. The condensed water then flowed to the tip and dripped into a metallic bowl, which was piped underneath to various areas within Erzembar. One of her first lab experiments was testing the purity of the drinking water, which surprisingly came back with outstanding results. Penny now often wondered of the construction of the condenser, let alone trying to find a way down there. She needed to remember to talk to Iggy about that.

Leaving the bathroom, she walked back into Iggy's bedroom and found him laying down not on the bed but above it, floating in mid air with a number of small bright objects surrounding him, including one on his forehead. He was clearly unaware of her, with his eyes closed and muttering incomprehensible words under his breath. Penny wasn't sure what to do at first; she was well aware of his meditation practices and didn't like to disrupt him, but she didn't know how much control he had of himself at that moment. For all she knew, he could fall down if he was disturbed now.

"Are you sure about that?" she overheard Iggy say. He said something else, but his words were indecipherable. He was clearly talking to someone, which made her more hesitant.

Iggy suddenly waved at her without looking, forcing a smile from Penny as she waved back to him. More confident now, she walked to her bureau and changed into her pajamas, knowing Iggy wasn't looking.

"We'll be there." Iggy said aloud, floating down back to his bed. Upon resting on it, Iggy opened his eyes and took off the crystal resting on his third eye. "But you might not remember." he added.

"Remember what?" she asked, putting her night shirt on.

"What will happen tonight." said Iggy, getting up and putting his stones away. "You're not a queen yet. Like I said, this is monarchs only."

"I don't mind becoming one," Penny began, putting her old clothes away, "I just don't feel ready right now, especially after seeing what I saw downstairs. There was so much information being transmitted that I don't know how the human mind could comprehend all of that at once."

"You have to train your subconscious to handle it." Iggy said, getting into his large bed. "And that takes a lot of time. You start with the easiest things, direct telepathic transmissions and address those. Once that becomes a habit, then you move on to more complicated things."

"It sounds like you need to be self aware a lot of the time." said Penny, climbing into bed. "Which you may be, but you're definitely not aware of what's in front of you."

"I was aware." Iggy said. "Now it's about balancing everything. And the more complex it gets the more difficult it becomes to balance it all out." He suddenly took her hand. "Like right now. You're in front of me trying to figure out how the hell I work. I shouldn't ignore that."

"It doesn't make you crazier than you already are." said Penny, laying on his chest. "It makes you more intricate. That's how life works, you know. The more complicated things get, the more asleep we become." Penny closed her eyes, content with that nugget of truth and wanting to rest her mind for the day.

"Interesting." Iggy muttered, staring at the ceiling. Self awareness decreases with increasing complexity. It sure made more sense of the God problem for those that still believed in one. Iggy was never a fan of religion, but understood why it came about. It was one of his greatest headaches as the earth changes continued to progress: people asking their religious leaders about why God was doing such and such, if this was the apocalypse, if they were to be saved and so forth. He got those questions everyday and had already learned how to deal with them. It was all their minds could stand, having been programmed to live that reality.

But Penny was right. Even though he was capable of complex feats of the mind, happiness was found in a more simpler life. Self awareness in simplicity. For once, feeling Penny's heart beating on his chest Iggy came back down to Earth, enjoying a moment that he realized his younger self could only have dreamed about. Now that his dream was a reality, it was time to dream of something bigger. Closing his eyes, he smiled knowing that the next step of the awakening was about to begin.

* * *

The stars flew overhead, time distorted beyond perception. He blinked: this was not the reality that he knew. Looking down, he saw the world below his feet: beautiful yet ravaged, not unlike the divine in greedy hands. Greedy, childish hands. But this was the world, and he was looking at it. He was looking at it!

"Why am I conscious?" Larry asked aloud, not sure as to what was happening. He knew he was dreaming inside of his dream: no spacecraft in orbit above the world remained viable to use. And yet he realized that he was in none: looking around him, he was in space with no metal bars or reinforced glass to protect him. He was simply in space with the world below his feet. What an odd dream.

Turning around towards the sun, Larry saw the Great Destroyer up close, the first time since the Galaxy crashed months ago. The sight made him reminisce those days of bliss, forced if it was. Except now the monster was seen being trailed by a number of moons and debris on its backside, forming a rocky tail that seemed to stretch towards the sun. It was much closer now.

But there was a flash of light and Larry was sent soaring into the stars, his home zooming away under him. At this point, he knew he was probably not dreaming, through he felt more surreal than he normally would during his awakened state. The stars flew by him, increasing in intensity until their light encompassed his vision. Then, there was darkness.

Larry blinked, his surroundings changed: his feet now rested on a circular metallic plate with another like it above him. Though his view of space was otherwise unobstructed, he could not tell where he was going or who was bringing him there. "Yeah, who even had this sort of tech?" Larry pondered this, knowing the Galaxy to be a thing of the past now. Was this the Naru? No, Larry remembered Iggy's tale about them, as well as the spirits of Genlic mentioning a ban against them ever visiting the planet as long as Koopa's were around.

"Hmm?"

Larry suddenly turned and found his brother Ludwig to his right taking in the new surroundings with a sleepy expression. "I did not realize the Gelanese had such a spell. Only a small amount was ingested..." He turned to Larry. "So...I presume this is not any dream state related to delta wave activity, given my conscious awareness?"

"Doubt it." said Larry. "We're being taken somewhere, by someone but I have no idea who."

"This craft is certainly not of my construction." commented Ludwig, shuffling the floor with his foot. "I was also not aware of any invisible barrier that protects one from the vacuum of space. We are more than likely dealing with an intelligent species not native to our world." He shuffled his foot again. "What is this substance?" Taking what appeared to be a pen from his pocket, he flipped out a magnifying glass from it and stared at the floor, while Larry rolled his eyes, unsurprised.

"Is this mineral even on our planet?" he muttered to himself. He was too distracted to notice his wife, Queen Kylie appearing in front of him with a dazed expression.

"Why am I flying in space right now?" she asked no one in particular.

"It appears we shall be meeting extraterrestrial visitors." Ludwig answered, too engrossed to even look up. "Besides their peculiar technology, I am unaware of any particular reason for the visitation, aside from our current predicament."

"Come on Ludwig." said Larry. "You've seen aliens before under the cover-up. You probably know something about this, out of all people."

Ludwig sighed, finally getting up. "It is true the cover-up over the alien presence is nulled with the Naru announcement." he said. "Very well, although I presume you have guessed at our neighbors given the information your person has access to. Aside from the Naru, there exist a number of races visiting the planet currently, however due to the rule of non-interaction of developing worlds they are not allowed to show their faces, with small exceptions given to said leadership. I was one such exception at the time."

"Aren't there thousands visiting now?" Kylie asked.

"Indeed." said Ludwig. "Though under strict orders to operate in the background."

"Then why have I not seen a single one up until now?" Larry questioned.

"Because people like to forget things." said a materializing Iggy, appearing right next to Kylie. "Some of the footage you've come across is actually real, but the mind likes to forget things."

"You didn't answer my question." Larry claimed.

"I did." countered Iggy. "You've seen them before, but those memories are in your subconscious and screened over. Conscious contact is not allowed except for world leaders. We are those leaders now, and we are about to meet them.

"As I expected." said Ludwig. "Though our former group has since disbanded, it seems the concept has carried forward to the next generation. I presume we will be meeting the inheritors?"

"Yup." Iggy nodded. The stars suddenly stopping moving, and a kind of circular mothership appeared quickly moving towards them. "Keep your eyes & ears open Larry." Iggy thought. "I was stunned when I first heard this back when the fight was over."

"You don't have to tell me this was another cover-up." Larry thought back, the ship making contact with their pod. "I've guessed this since the Galaxy."

"The news they will present will stun you, is what I'm saying." Iggy thought back. Their surroundings solidified, replaced by metal walls with no windows. A soft white light surrounded them, until their reality suddenly flashed and the light faded as quickly as it came. They now found themselves in a spacious room with cushioned circular seats dotting the area. A fountain of what appeared to be mercury was cut into a notch in the left wall, flowing upwards mimicking objects as it went. In the center was a lighted pillar with four seats encompassing, each equally distant from the other,.

Larry spotted a familiar shape on the other side of the room. "Lemmy?" he blurted aloud, but the figure passed through an archway and was gone. He was a little surprised he didn't think of Lemmy earlier, but given the current situation he didn't blame himself.

"Greetings." came a voice inside of his head. "Please make yourself comfortable." said another. A number of small hominid beings entered the room from various passages, and to Larry they seemed sickly with their gray scaly skin and the way they walked towards their seats in a slow, deliberate manner. They seemed reptilian in origin, with their large oval eyes fixed to the sides of their skull.

The four monarchs sat themselves down, mingling with the rest of the visitors. Larry was cautious however, wondering what their intent was.

"We do not intend to harm you." said a similar voice in his mind, seemingly reading it. And it seemed they possessed no vocal cords: everything was telepathic so far.

"We wish to inform you of your planet's current plight." It seemed each sentence was answered by a different member of the species, similar to the Blood monarchs inside Genlic. "Due to the cover-up that has recently been broken in part due to the announcements inside the Koopa Kingdom, much of the world has been unaware of the greater problem facing them. Even with the recent revelation of Naru, much of the populace will not feel the need to prepare for the worst."

"Why?" Kylie thought.

"Complacency." one responded. "Which itself is based upon the fear of the unknown. For many, ignorance is the sure way to happiness, a sign that they are unable to handle such information without covering themselves behind denial. Indeed, denial has already become rampant, even with the recent vacation of the Koopa Kingdom towards its new location. Many that have stayed behind still believe their lives will be rebuilt."

There was a silence. "We apologize, we should introduce ourselves. We are the Kappur, one of the beneficiaries of your growing race. As we stated, we are here due to your planet's predicament with the passing traveler Naru and the effects it will cause on all who dwell upon your world. We have been chosen for this mission by the Galactic Council, who oversees all happenings within our Galaxy. We are here to inform the races of your world of the pending disaster about to take place, with most being unaware. Even with the announcement, the word must now spread to other kingdoms and the disasters have begun to increase. Aside from your establishments giving the announcement, we reply to The Call and counsel those souls who desire to know more of their current predicaments.

"The Call, this is asking for alien assistance." said Iggy as a matter of fact.

"Yes, within the rules allotted to us." they replied. "For instance, due to the rule of no contact, we are not allowed to communicate with 3rd dimensional lifeforms consciously. There are exceptions, the main being if said life form asks for consul due to giving The Call, in which we answer and direct the spirit accordingly. Then, depending upon the entity, we may establish conscious contact through other means. You have the ability to consciously contact ourselves due to your inheritance created by the Reigning 13."

"The individuals of first contact." Ludwig thought. "This includes our father, the Mario Brothers and many prominent persons who saw fit to arrest the knowledge that was gleaned upon that first meeting. They were the bone fide leaders of the Galaxy, but I only know of their existence by rumor. I would assume that the group has since dispersed, given what has occurred until now."

"Indeed, they have officially disbanded," The Kappur replied, "yet much of their former power remains in various circles of the world. These people are bureaucrats, senators and military once under the reigning command of Bowser Koopa who have taken advantage of his dictatorship to gain some of their own piece of pie, so to speak. Even after his death, many of these same people still hold circles of power and attempt to gain footholds in small territories to establish a mimicry of what your father had done. These spirits who have been informed of the pending pole shift seek to profit from it as much as possible with well equipped bunkers, and a slave class that they anticipate to use in the aftermath. They are to be avoided if your kingdom wishes to continue on its present course.

"This leads into our next prediction, in that any kingdom that you wish to establish at this time will more than likely not last through the shift."

"What?" Ludwig simply thought.

"As you have currently seen King of the Earth, your planet's infrastructure is fragile to the incoming affects of Naru." they said. "Without which, civilization begins to break down. It is understood that you intend to pack your bags with the kingdom inside it, only to unfurl it in a more suitable location following the pole shift. Unfortunately it is not that simple as the public have minds of their own. Due to the lies of your father's administration, the public has become distrustful of the government despite the help they are now receiving under your administration. Trust will be a constant issue. Paper money is now considered worthless with the lack of a proper infrastructure to support business flow. As a result, goods and services have halted and the lifestyle many once had, that of instant gratification, has ceased. Combined with the inability to believe what is occurring along with such traumatic events, we have predicted that about 47% of all survivors of the pole shift will go insane."

Ludwig frowned, and it was clear to him that he had overestimated his fellow beings. "That is unfortunate."

"We advise not to rely on the continuation of typical governmental body functions," the Kappur continued. "as the people will form groups with each other, and take care of themselves especially if they are of a service to others orientation."

"Service to others orientation." Iggy echoed. "And that is what?"

"The spiritual orientations are one of two directions the spirit must take past the 3rd dimension." they said. "They are the service to self and service to others. The lesson of the 3rd dimension is for the spirit to decide its orientation. The service to self in essence is a child who refuses to grow, establishing pecking orders in their peer groups and does whatever is necessary to obtain absolute power. Though they have a tendency to sweet talk attempt to convince others of their schemes, they are not concerned about them, only themselves. They lack empathy, which makes them uncomfortable. Empathy and acting on empathy is a great example of a spirit leaning towards the service to others orientation, which is not about personal gain over the suffering of others. In order to qualify for this orientation, one must be thinking of others at least 50% of the time. This must be a consistent effort proven by action throughout the spirit's lifetimes. On average, it takes well over 1,000 incarnations to decide the orientation of the spirit. There are of course spirits which develop extremely quickly, perhaps only a few hundred lifetimes to determine while other spirits hardly develop at all. Many of the latter are service to self oriented spirits: they refuse to develop further."

"So you're saying all of experience is a gigantic lesson to determine the orientation of the spirit?" asked Iggy.

"Precisely. This is the nature of the 3rd dimension. At this time, your world has been selected to be a world inhabited by those in the service to others orientation. The transformation into the 4th dimension has already begun and this is one reason why there has been so many upsets with the selfish on the surface. At this time there are thousands of other lifeforms who have volunteered to assist in the planets transformation. It is no coincidence that Bowser's self serving government has fallen along with the power behind it, the UmNaru. They were largely responsible for many of your races atrocities, controlling others like puppets to further their own agenda's. Their defeat is considered to be an opening to the Galactic Council to announce the presence of Naru to the rest of the population, which has since occurred."

"What if the announcement never happened?" Larry suddenly thought.

"This was our original expectation." claimed the Kappur. "The cover-up in the past had a strong foothold over the governments of your world and its break up was considered improbable at the time. As a result, we predicted that the disasters would befall the planet with most not understanding what was happening to them. Due to this lack of preparation, we predicted approximately 90% of all intelligent species would be wiped out during the pole shift."

"90%?!" they all thought aloud.

"Yes. This includes death due to starvation, disease and the inability to sustain one's self after such a disaster. In other words, shock. This also includes the insanity that will plague much of the world due to such an event. Though the announcement has since occurred, our prediction still stands. More will likely prepare for their survival, but fewer will understand what is truly needed to live in a post-pole shift environment. The stockpiling of goods is only a short term solution. True self sustainability will be needed. This includes the ability to save seed and garden, water purification, the ability to be mobile amongst other things. Stores of canned goods will run out, and those believing that all will return to normal after the shift will in for a rude awakening. This is another reason why government will simply not exist following the shift. People will have much on their plates."

There was silence for a moment as the Koopalings were absorbed in their own thoughts. "I have to try and conjure something up." relayed Iggy. "People need something to believe in. Already their religions are failing to explain what they've been seeing. They need something to keep them going, keep them moving."

"Maybe that's why so many people stayed behind after we set out." Kylie mentioned.

"It is." said Iggy, being able to see their thoughts clearly. "They believe they will be saved by some omnipresent being."

"This will not occur." the Kappur warned. "We are not allowed to interfere with man's spiritual progress, and rescue from disaster is one such example. Disasters bring opportunities to learn lessons set out during a spirit's incarnations, forcing the spirit to make decisions. Evolution comes from such hard choices and to rescue one from disaster would void any such potential. The sole exception is the rescue of highly service to other individuals, in order to relocate them to their loved ones or to a place where they are needed. These are few. "The mind does not want to consider itself in such uncertain dangers, and goes for the more comfortable opt out: being rescued. You must rely on your own selves in order to survive."

"Too bad not everyone is going to believe that." mentioned Larry. There was another silence after that, and none of the Koopalings knew what to say. Larry, feeling guilty of said silence, broke it. "If their beliefs will not come true, then what would comfort them? They will need something to live for. After it's all said and done, they need something to keep them going. I'm kind of repeating what Iggy said, but unless they become motivated to survive, their broken beliefs may paralyze them to death. So what is there to believe in? If people learned this, I would bet a good number would choose to die with the waves,"

The Kappur looked at each other. "We have been assigned to be the chosen race for your planet by the Galactic Council due to our nearly identical blood types. Your races have been scheduled to be phased out of existence due to a number of reasons, including selfishness, lack of regard to your environment, the problem of denial and the tendency to lean towards the suggestions of the service to self, thus tipping the balance on your planet. The Koopa race shall be phased out approximately 100 years after the pole shift."

"What is this?" Larry argued.

"The incarnate life form shall be replaced with a hybrid race developed by ourselves." responded the Kappur. "They are a combination of us as well as yourselves, choosing the best traits from both races to create a new species that is ideal for 4th dimensional development. As it stands currently, your race is not suitable for the 4th dimension due to a lack of brain capacity. The time was chosen now due to the anticipated die off following the pole shift. The new hybrid body contains a greater intelligence, longer life span while retaining empathy and the sexual drive, something which we lack."

"So this race is going to take our place?" Larry asked.

"Correct." they confirmed. "Neither the Koopa's, Mushrooms nor the Yoshi's are suitable for the 4th dimension and are to be phased out. This is the rule of the Galactic Council. The hybrids will be incarnated by ourselves, the Kappur and highly service to other spirits from your race as well. Those spirits who have not decided their orientation will be sent to another world where they can continue their deliberations. Many who have come into contact with us have interest in these new hybrid bodies and greatly desire them. However, it is their choices and actions that will determine the final outcome."

"So let me get this straight..." Larry began. "...people are being forced to make a decision between two spiritual orientations as the planet is going to the 4th dimension. Those who don't are moving to a new planet? What is this planet?"

"It is a water world." they stated. "It currently houses spirits from all over the Galaxy who have yet to decide their spiritual orientation and can continue their lessons there. The life form is a water creature, which affords greater sensitivity to one's environment."

"And we don't have a choice in this?" Larry thought.

"Correct."

"Why not? Isn't this our planet to live on?" Larry argued.

"Compared to the whole universe, you are but children learning to grow." they bluntly replied. "Children do not make the decisions of the world around them. That is the job of the Galactic Council. There is a rule that states that the races of your planet are not allowed to travel beyond your star system and for good reason. 3rd dimensional entities are not yet mature enough for interstellar travel."

Larry growled at that, but with nothing else to counter them merely sighed in his frustration.

"We will be in constant contact with the leaders of your world, including yourselves." the Kappur concluded. "Despite not being members of the Reigning 13, we believe introducing ourselves to the current generation of leaders to be the next logical step. The pole shift is advancing to the next stage. We will be in constant contact with your selves, and will be available if you require consoling with appropriate matters. But for now, we must send you back to continue your lessons."

"So we are on our own..." Larry trailed off, looking out the window.

"Not alone, but with galactic friends willing to help you with your lessons. While we are not allowed to interfere with them or change them, we can help guide you towards a correct outcome and thus help you learn the lesson required. As we already stated, we are not allowed to interfere with your spiritual development. This includes stopping hurricanes, landslides, earthquakes and the like as these are natural events. It is from these episodes that one may grow into a chosen orientation." There was a pause. "We believe that is enough information to deliberate on for now, and we will be available for further meetings should the need arise. Until then."

With that, a darkness seemed to close around the Koopalings until it filled their entire vision and they knew no more.


	3. 34: Migration

Raindrops plopped upon the skins of his tent as Morton stirred from sleep. Indeed, he was comfortable in his current position: on his back wrapped in fur blankets trying to keep his eyes closed. But the sound of rain kept him awake and he reluctantly turned onto his side, only to see something under the curtain that made up his doorway: a small river of water rushing by.

Morton grumbled, forcing himself awake at the sight. The rest of his tent looked dry, but curiosity got the best of him. With a growl he pushed his blankets aside and got up, walking towards his shell which lay in the corner. After putting it on, he threw back the curtain and looked outside to find something that startled him: a river that seemed to flow from the Koopa Crags through the camp that was set up the night before. It was a moment before his sleepy brain finally made the connection: that was no ordinary river, that was the Koopahari Pass!

"What?!" he shouted, and immediately headed back into his tent to grab his supplies, including his radio. After putting on a large raincoat, he made his way out of his tent and into the pouring rain, which obscured his view of the surrounding countryside. However, he was able to see a large group of people near the road-turned-river in some kind of heated debate. Walking closer, he caught sight of Ludwig von Koopa at the head of the pack, wearing a large round coat that resembled more of a poncho than any sort of jacket, with a large hood to cover his famous hairstyle. He was surrounded people of all types, including mechanics, workers and richly dressed businessmen.

"They would slide right down the hill!" said one Koopa dressed in a fancy business suit. "Doesn't matter what's in front of it!"

"The tanks will be more than sufficient to divert the water flow." argued Ludwig. "By using the blade affixed to the front of the tanks, the water will be diverted in multiple directions, mainly the sides parallel to the vehicles allowing the lighter transports to follow behind without worrying about water flow."

"That's if the tanks can even roll up that hill under that much pressure." said another Koopa Troopa.

"They should stand that." said a mechanic, looking at the road. "Blades weren't meant to push water, but I wasn't meant to do a lot of things either. What I'm more worried about is the force of that water. It's coming down there at a good click, so if anything it's going to shoot right up into the air."

"Correct." said Ludwig. "And due to the incline of the slope which is approximately 53 degrees and the construction of the blades, water will shoot upwards and due to gravity, will drop ahead of the tank as well as behind the tank due to said slope inclination. The amount dispersed behind the tank line is estimated by my person to be of a larger quantity than that ahead of the line, and thus is expected to land just ahead of the 2nd tank line which will divert the water again. In essence, with all tank lines in place and functioning, one may think of said plan to be like a wave function as the water flows upwards then back to the Earth again in cyclic motion.

"Having said this, the main bulk of the party will ride directly behind these tank lines, with the water launching directly over them and landing harmlessly behind their vehicles. We shall use both lanes of the highway to accommodate this of course and any supplies deemed unnecessary for survival must be left behind in order to lighten the load. Any questions?"

Despite being unable to fully grasp Ludwig's mathematical concepts, Morton got the gist of his plan.

"Your majesty, we have reports of riots in Koopa City proper." said one Koopa with a head interface. "They have begun to loot the areas damaged by yesterday's tornado outbreak. But it seems they are protesting for the lack of government after our withdrawal. They claim that they have been abandoned."

Ludwig snorted almost immediately. "I have made my intentions clear during my prior pole shift announcement. Citizens are free to participate in the kingdom relocation plan now taking place, and a provisional government has been set up to administer what remains of these lands. Do they intend to have their hands held through every disaster? How preposterous!"

"I think we should move now before those riots have a chance of reaching us." said a Koopa with a heavy overcoat and many around him seemed to be in agreement.

"If they find out where our shelters are going to be, then we're done for." said another in similar dress. "We should get going. I'm going to pack my things." he went off.

"Might as well." The group dispersed in different directions, with many seemingly making up their own minds. Ludwig watched them leave his company with a suspicious glance, not at all liking their current attitude.

"I'll stay at the head of the pack." said Morton, sensing Ludwig's discomfort.

"I do not like this." Ludwig muttered to himself. "My father's bureaucracy seemingly has a life of its own. The inability to respect and acknowledge authority is a sure sign of betrayal." He turned to his younger brother. "Morton, I must ask of you an important favor. You will receive a transmission during our march upon the Koopahari pass. Immediately forward this to Lemuel without delay, and he will distribute the message to the appropriate parties."

"Do I need to know what this is?" Morton asked.

"No." Ludwig replied. "In fact, it is best that you do not know as we will be watched from this point forward. Access to my person must be kept restricted. Hence, Lemuel shall do the heavy work."

"Gotcha." replied Morton, looking around him. They seemed to be busy packing their camps, but Morton noticed a smaller Koopa watching them on from a good distance. After refocusing his eyes, he saw it was Lemmy, who promptly turned away upon being spotted.

"I have a plan, do not worry." said Ludwig. "Let us begin the next stage."

So the camp packed itself away back into the vehicles in which they came, and while the attitudes of some may have leaked the intentions of some groups, they still seemed glued together and intent on finishing what Ludwig had begun. Soon the vehicles were in place: all of the tanks that had cleared the city of debris in the past day were lined up towards the entrance of the Koopahari Pass. Behind two tanks were two pairs of smaller vehicles and this pattern followed down the line until Ludwig's secret location somewhere in the caravan. But Morton was at the head inside one of the tanks in the front, ready to continue with the journey. Considering all that has happened so far, he knew he had to assert his authority a little more if he didn't want to be pushed around like Ludwig.

"All right, move out!" Morton said into a radio, then sending a call signal to Ludwig. After receiving one in response, Morton put his foot on the gas and the first line of tanks went off towards the mountain pass, now resembling a river as water gushed down from the mountains above. The tanks came to the water flow and lowered their blades to nearly ground level, successfully diverting the water to the sides of the tank line. Feeling confident, Morton pushed forward onto the roadway, lowering the blade to the pavement. As the tanks rolled uphill, the water rose and spewed upwards from the top of the blade, sending streams of water flowing for many feet behind it. At once, two jeeps pulled up from the sides of the tanks and maneuvered themselves to practically tailgate them, trying to avoid water now splashing behind him. It appeared that Ludwig's strategy was working, as the next pair of tanks moved into position and lowered their blades in like fashion, having the water gush upwards into the air duplicating the first row.

Eventually the entire caravan moved like this up the mountain, successfully, diverting the water flow and pushing their way into the western Koopa Crags. They traveled for well over an hour into the mountains and Morton noticed the "river" ease its flow as they ascended the heights. They passed into a low level cloud layer and their visibility became considerably reduced. Just as Morton pondered on what to do next, he heard strange noises emit from his radio. After a minute of this, they died down.

"That is the transmission." relayed Ludwig. "Please send this to Lemmy." Morton assumed that Lemmy would be able to decrypt the message o his end, so with the message stored in his radio, he punched in the wavelength for Lemmy's radio and pressed send. Morton had no idea what Ludwig intended to do with the rich elite, but he hoped that something would be done with them soon.

At length, the slope leveled out signaling that they have reached the top of the pass. Cloud surrounded them and they otherwise had no indicators as to their position. The water flow has slowed to a trickle and Morton raised the blade of his tank no longer seeing the need to use it. But he also had another problem

"I would raise your blades once you get up here." Morton relayed through his radio. "The water is barely a trickle, but there is a good amount of mud on the road. We can get over it, it's not that high but it looks like landslides have happened up here so keep your eyes out."

"Affirmative." called one commander. Indeed, from what visibility Morton had he could see the steep incline on his right had tumbled recently, filling the road with dirt. Fortunately, aside from one large bolder the road was still passable due to the tanks running over it, compacting the mud enough for the other lighter vehicles to traverse.

However, Morton came across a large problem that literally crept up on him. The next thing he saw made him slam on his brakes, grinding the tank to a halt. He climbed out of his tank and looked at the massive obstacle before him. The line behind him did the same caterpillar effect he had seen a day earlier.

"What is the issue?" came Ludwig's voice over the radio.

"Sinkhole." Morton replied. "Massive sinkhole, it's got to be at least 50 feet across, maybe 150 feet deep. It takes up the entire road."

Ludwig grunted. "I shall teleport there myself." Within a few moments, Ludwig appeared besides Morton's tank in a dark blue flash, looking at the sight before him. He walked over to the hole and seemed to study it carefully. Other people came out of their vehicles to see the problem for themselves and soon there was a commotion as they talked amongst each other.

"There's no way we're getting over that." said one. "I might as well turn back. I should have taken the sea route."

"Yeah, why didn't we do that?" asked another fancy Koopa with a snobbish expression.

"There's not enough space on the ships for what we need to bring." said a Koopa in Ludwig's cabinet. "We'd have to make multiple trips and that would take more time, plus the fuel supplies were cut off and we would run out for the cargo hull's. This was the fastest way."

"Well, now we've hit a dead end." said the Koopa in the overcoat. "I think I'll turn back with that other guy."

"And how do you propose to do that?" Ludwig suddenly asked, turning around. "Our entire caravan takes up the width of the road due to the number of migrants currently in the company. Do you expect everyone to turn back and drive through the raging rapids behind us so you can personally reverse your course down the pass?"

The Koopa said nothing, but just looked at the caravan behind him.

"I am not Bowser Koopa." Ludwig stated, "Nor will I ever be. I will not allow former cabinet members to influence the agenda already laid out and risk the lives of those who have decided to partake on this journey. There is a solution to this issue, but this will require cooperation from all involved."

"You know," began the Koopa, "We made your Kingdom the way it was. Built it from the ground up into the Empire that it became and your father gave us so much funding for that effort. We built schools, hospitals, various corporations for a number of sectors and we spread the culture of the Koopa Empire throughout the globe. Now? It's all destroyed thanks to your little war on the UmNaru, but I decided "Hey, maybe I'll get compensated for it." You call this compensation?"

"Who said I was required to compensate for your loss if the funding enactment was from the previous administration?" Ludwig asked. "The end of the world means the end of civilization as it is currently known."

"Hah!" The Koopa laughed. "The shift won't kill everybody. It'll kill a lot of people, sure. But your kingdom...excuse me, your dad's kingdom will go on as it has done so before. The kingdom is run by corporations, I'm sure you're aware of the many lobbyist that we had back in the senate. And trust me when I say, whatever we want, we will get. It doesn't matter who you are. Do you know how many companies have pulled your father's strings, bribing him just to have their way?"

"No I don't, please do tell." Ludwig said sarcastically.

"This many." The Koopa suddenly pulled out a wand and aimed for Ludwig's chest, but the Koopaling had the greater speed and punched the Koopa in the gut sending him flying through the air, until he hit the rocky cliff face behind him and fell to the ground. A number of people unsheathed a number of weapons then, mostly of fashionable dress and Ludwig knew he was walking on edge.

"Hem!" Ludwig ordered, and immediately the military branded their weapons and aimed for the bureaucrats attempting to take advantage of the situation. They froze upon sight of Ludwig's insignia appearing everywhere and many re-concealed their weapons in response. But to Ludwig, the damage was done and there was no going back for these class of citizens.

"The Koopa has been killed sir." said one soldier.

"What a pity." Ludwig said sarcastically. "When you travel in my company you are offered full protection of my consortium, that being not only the army of the Kingdom but my own army and those of my siblings. Your selfish intentions are greatly outnumbered by the selfless ambitions of those who wish to create a kingdom without the lies and deceptions you so gracefully demonstrated. I do not like to repeat my statements but it seems to be required, so I shall say this again: I am not Bowser Koopa, and neither is this Bowser's administration. If any of you attempt to plot against me again, I will personally kill you." He looked at them, but no response came. "Bind their hands. Arrest them for treason."

"This is not the last of us!" one of them shouted. "We will have what we want, with you involved or not."

"What I offer is a privilege, not a right." said Ludwig. "You will soon find that maintaining your extravagant lifestyle will become more difficult. Then again, denial works in various ways and that fact may not be well understood to your person. Throw them into the last unarmed tank."

A large number of bureaucrats were arrested and thrown into the last tank at the end of the caravan, which was simply a stock vehicle used for miscellaneous items. Some people actually clapped at the sight, mainly the commoners who had long been taken advantage of by such types. Their applause encouraged others not to do the same thing the corpse on the side of the road just did.

After that spectacle, Morton climbed out of his tank and approached Ludwig. "So that drama aside, how are we going to cross this thing?"

"It will take some work." Ludwig admitted. "I have brought with me equipment for such a case, as I had imagined many scenarios and prepared accordingly before departure. A sinkhole of this magnitude will require the the use of two metal tracks to the bear the vehicles across. These tracks must not be supported by the ground underneath, considering the unknown condition of the underground interior and the possibility of further soil encroachment. Instead, we are lucky to be surrounded by a rock cliff face on either side of our persons, which shall act as the support instead. It is in constructing these supports that I will require assistance."

"Those tanks wont be able to cross this beast, metal or not." Morton mentioned.

"Which leads to my next point." said Ludwig. "The reinforced steel will be enough to support the weight of lighter vehicles, but not for the bladed tanks. As a result, the tanks must be left behind sitting as they are now, and we shall siphon the fuel inside of them using previously used fuel containers in order to increase our store for the other vehicles. As for those arrested, they are to return to the Old Kingdom with a handful of soldiers, of which I am aware of a few who do wish to return."

With a few commands, a group of people began to unload one of the cargo trucks and piece together two strips of thick metal. Using welding equipment originally intended for vehicle repairs, they welded the steel together and placed them on the ground in two long rows. Others were climbing the rock faces on either side, boring holes into the rock. They were later handed long support beams cut to specific dimensions, and these were installed perpendicular to the tracks that were now being pushed across the sinkhole. Once fully pushed to the other side with many feet to spare, the support beams were welded onto the tracks by a few workers walking on them, confident of their strength. Soon, the track was completed, only taking a little more than an hour. With no less than 12 supports above and below the tracks, Morton felt a little more confident but needed to see it in action before he could make his final determination.

"Let the jeep go first!" he called out, with Ludwig nodding in approval. A military style jeep rode up and carefully aligned its tires to the tracks before beginning its journey across the hole. Some of the support beams made a few snapping noises under the stress, but otherwise the ride was without issue as the jeep successfully made it to the other side of the hole. A few people cheered on the other end, glad to see their work pay off. Soon much of the caravan was crossing the gap, one vehicle at a time. Other than a few people reinforcing some of the support beams, the operation was successful thus far.

In the meantime, Ludwig ordered the fuel in the tanks to be siphoned into empty storage containers and the occupants to be placed in vacant positions in other lighter vehicles. Many had an adverse reaction to this, arguing that without such strength as an ally, it may encourage others to revolt.

"This order does not stem from any ideal." Ludwig claimed. "This stems from simple physics. It is impossible for our heavier vehicles to cross our newly constructed track-way without disaster, and as such these vehicles must be left behind. In order to prevent any malicious party from gaining control of such a force, all fuel currently stored within is being siphoned into spent fuel containers as I have previously specified. If all containers are filled, then allow the fuel to flow out of the vehicle and onto the ground. They shall be left here, unusable. If possible, please drain the oil as well to ensure their permanent immovability." Despite the explanation, the artillery still had a fit over the new orders but with some persuasion Ludwig allowed them to keep a few of the weapons that came with the tanks, as long as they made it across the bridge.

Soon, all of the vehicles made it across the tracks save for the tanks and other heavier vehicles left behind. Morton could see a single tank turning around and heading the other way down the road. Although the UmNaru were now dead, many of their servants were left behind, at least those with enough good in them to have not vaporized during the God's Wrath spell. But he also knew that wasn't the end of them and they would probably keep themselves low while in the majesty's presence. In time, they would probably try to off him again and Morton wondered if Ludwig could see this given his personality. Once they were holed up in Ludwig's Castle, he could easily be at their mercy. Morton really felt bad for Kylie who was caught up in all of this and was pregnant on top of it. If that was a part of the plan, then he was not too sure of its effectiveness. Regardless, attacking him now was in poor taste.

In time the caravan set out again, resuming the journey. The road was relatively flat for some time, being in the heights of the range and thankfully was free from any other sinkholes. At length, the road started to descend with a shallow layer of mud covering the road, indicating water runoff as seen earlier that morning. They descended below the cloud layer and found the sun already moving across the western sphere, but was accompanied by smaller orbs light around its disc. From what Morton knew, they were some of the many moons in the tail of Naru, sunlight being reflected back towards their planet. The beast itself was lost somewhere in the sun's gaze...at least to the Koopa eye.

The trail leveled out for a bit and a view of the land below became more prominent. The Koopai appeared to be a green and lush valley with a large lake seen further in the distance. The arctic sea was barely seen far to the northwest as a thin line of water along the horizon. Along side it, the snowy north was seen to the right stretching to the tip of the crags, Lemmy Koopa's pathway home. To the left, the greens transitioned to browns as the river valley blended with the deserts of the Koopahari, Iggy Koopa's realm. Only a few towns could be seen in the valley at that height, proxy settlements of the former Koopa Kingdom that had been informed of the King's intentions.

Morton again wondered how easy it would be to settle there, given that they were essentially losing their land for the new Koopa Kingdom. Ludwig probably thought of it as an easy transition, but Lemmy certainly knew better. Having been quiet for most of the journey due to concealing his presence, he felt that his help would be most needed in the Koopai, especially when the settling was to take place before his departure back home. But at the same time, Lemmy knew that his older brother was in a precarious position, essentially painting a bullseye wherever he went especially after what happened a few hours prior. Ludwig probably thought that holing himself up in his cozy little castle would prevent any sort of attempts against his life, being inside his cocoon of safety. He had no idea that he was walking into a nightmare and Lemmy felt that he needed to somehow stem this tide against him. As a result, he felt divided, unsure as to where he would be needed most.

Side roads began to appear left and right, signaling the re-entering of civilization. The first road Ludwig knew to be the passage to the port of Kearsmoth, located directly to their South on the edge of the Crags. The road was paved but not well maintained, and indeed few people went down that way as the caravan crossed it. It was ideal for traveling by sea across the world, but for little else. They passed by a few paved roads in this manner, but most were dirt roads with some of them being unmarked. Morton wondered if this was how Ludwig had hidden his castle the whole time.

At length, the road descended sharply for a short time before abruptly coming to a fork. The left road continued to travel downwards into the Koopai where it could be seen traveling into the southern valley with other roads branching off of it, before turning further left into the desert and was lost. The right road however seemed to veer off northwards, hugging the Crags as it went with little deviation in direction.

Morton's radio cackled to life. "Unfortunately, we have reached our departure point." relayed Ludwig. "Here, the leadership shall exchange hands. Those seeking asylum with my company and have registered with my administration shall accompany my company through the northern passes of the Crags to my secret stronghold. However, the great majority now traveling shall instead accompany Crown prince Lemuel and Prince Morton into the Koopai valley, where the new Kingdom shall be established. In time, I will join you all within my new stronghold, but after the trade of blows witnessed earlier, it may be some time before this will be done. I shall be in contact with you through my brothers to inform you of my situation as it progresses. Until then, may the Koopa race live into eternity."

Lemmy frowned. He really didn't want to hear that. "You know you're walking into a trap, right?" Lemmy asked on their private frequency.

"That is my intention." replied Ludwig. "Verily, after the warnings I have received of the intentions of others, I have decided to let such individuals come to my person, thus lessening the burden upon your shoulders. Do not fret over my situation Lemuel as this was my own fate to begin with. I must complete what I have begun, not let the UmNaru's henchmen take control of my behemoth. You are in an excellent position to become a great leader of our future, despite your current plans otherwise. I highly advise to watch over Morton's progress and aide him whenever possible."

Lemmy, knowing Morton would probably look up to him again, knew otherwise. Even then, Ludwig was still pushing him into a role he was never comfortable with. However, the stakes were rising higher now and Lemmy began to realize that to do nothing about it would make him appear irresponsible. History was moving against his wishes and fighting that wasn't the wisest thing to do.

"Then I'll leave you to your fate." Lemmy said, already setting his course in advance.

"I do hope I shall arise from the inevitable conflicts ahead." said Ludwig. "As my progeny depends on it. However, if the worst case scenario occurs then I trust you know what to do. This is an obligation that must be met regardless of personal desires, and such times have a greater calling for such personal sacrifice. I have carried much of the weight thus far and so have your brothers. It is all I ask, to live up to your forefathers."

Lemmy sighed. "I'm going with Morton to help him out." said Lemmy. "If I don't hear from you before I take off, then I'll send a team to check up on you."

"That is fine," said Ludwig. "In any case, we must depart and head to better areas for encampment as this location is less than ideal. I do wish you and Morton luck on your endeavors and hope to see you again soon."

The radio fizzled off. Lemmy still had a bad feeling about all of this, but now agreed that his presence in the Koopai would be more important in terms of the future. Ludwig's forces were already seen turning onto the right road and starting to travel down it. Lemmy switched to a public frequency.

"Hi everybody." he began. "Yes, this Is Lemmy and yes I'm here. You haven't seen me too much because I'm up above you, cloaked and riding in my own ship. You know, I had a funny feeling something was going to happen to the King, so can you really blame me? But it's okay, cause that won't happen again." He fingered the Wand of Koopa next to him. "Well anyway, let's keep going and find a good place to camp down there. We should be in the Koopai by tomorrow. Today's been a long day. Let's go, I'm already thinking about pancakes."

"Alright, the boss gave me the coordinates to our final destination." relayed Morton. "And I know the area well enough. I used to rule these parts in the old days, if anyone still remembers those days. Memory seems to be getting worse. Well, I got a good place to to camp, so follow me."

With that, Morton, now driving a jeep put his foot on the gas and the rest quickly followed him down the slopes of the Koopa Crags. Lemmy followed above, nervous about the whole ordeal and wondered what was going to happen tomorrow. He could only tap his fingers in anticipation on his father's diary, hoping that it was right.

* * *

The only light was of the blood red moon, casting its ominous glare over the ocean water. A small boat slowly traveled across its breadth, heading northwards with hardly a splash. To Luigi, he could not afford to announce himself to the Koopa Kingdom at sea, never mind entering the Koopa Kingdom relatively unnoticed. He had managed to descend the rocky cliffs of the Mushroom Range earlier to a small harbor, finding the boat he now rode upon. Luigi only wished he had more gas than he currently did for the motor, otherwise he would not mind taking the long ride to Sarasaland by sea. But because he could not, he decided to cross the kingdom at night in hopes that he would have a greater chance of slipping by unnoticed. From there, past the eastern Koopa Crags lie the territories of Sarasaland and the princess he needed to rescue, Daisy. It was just a short walk over Birabuto to her castle, or so he hoped.

The shoreline of the Koopa Kingdom could finally be made out in the low light up ahead. Dark and unlit, it seemed devoid of life and Luigi wasn't sure what to make of that as of yet. For all he knew, it could be anything. But as he approached closer, it became clear that the docks he had intended to land at were in utter ruin with dock posts and half submerged boats sticking out of the water. The buildings on land looked heavily damaged and abandoned with not a single light to be seen anywhere. The shroud of darkness made Luigi rethink his strategy in crossing the kingdom with his flashlight. If still inhabited, then he would be a walking target if not for any soldiers that were left, then to thieves and robbers who would certainly be inhabiting the area.

Luigi maneuvered his boat amongst the wreckage until managing to find a post next to shore. Turning off the motor, he tied the boat to it with a rope before jumping out onto dry land. Indeed, the whole place was a mess, as if struck by some natural catastrophe. As he walked inland trying to find a passage or some kind of rad, he noticed a putrid smell waft up his nostrils. It took him a moment for him to realize that it was the smell of rotting flesh: corpses. The devastation here was more serious than he had imagined. Luigi looked around him, trying to locate the source of the smell. Above him, the debris ridden road climbed to a height where a few flickering lights could be seen at the top of a hill. It appeared that Bowser's Castle was intact and still inhabited as well as the surrounding area, but given the gargantuan loss of infrastructure he wondered where the rest of the populace had gone.

No sooner than thinking this did Luigi spot an odd shape further down the coastline. The smell was strongest this way and Luigi could only shake his head at the sight. So they were all dead. Partially illuminated by the moon, he only had to see the familiar shapes of Koopa's and their protruding limbs to guess what occurred. Another reality check of where this was all heading. It was one thing to speak, it was another thing to see. The face of Daisy broke that morbid moment, giving him the impetus to keep going.

Luigi continued up the road, deciding not to use his flashlight after all. He didn't care as much now after seeing what he just saw. A million thoughts ran through his mind. These are the consequences of such an event called the pole shift. Nobody seemed to prepare for it, nor did they seem to care. Satisfaction in the moment is what matters to most, at least that's what Luigi remembered of Brooklyn. But even here that could be seen, now dead having payed for their lack of preparation...for their inability to imagine such a life. It said a lot about people and Luigi nodded, understanding. They could not let go.

His road continued upwards, passing rows of empty and damaged buildings. As he stumbled over the debris blocking his path, he thought he could see faces in one window, but his direct gaze shooed them away. "So, there are people here!" Luigi thought, growing more cautious with every footstep. Faces moved between windows, too fast for Luigi to make out but he sensed an oncoming ambush. He heard something come up behind him, and turning around Luigi saw a familiar enemy suddenly running from him.

A bandit! It had taken his flashlight and was running off down the street. Luigi gritted his teeth in annoyance, not liking this particular kind of enemies. He didn't have much on him save for a mushroom, which help him much here. He then remembered Kamek's wand, and taking it out of his toolbelt, he swung and pointed it in the bandit's direction mimicking Kamek's spell casting. A multi-colored swirl of shapes flew out of the wand and hit the bandit dead on, and it fell to the ground unconscious. Luigi stepped forward to retrieve his flashlight, but saw that many bandits were rushing forward towards him in an apparent ambush. Waving the wand again, Luigi let loose a large swirl that knocked several bandits off their feet with an explosion of debris. Another was smashed through a wall before another jumped down from the window above. Ultimately, he was smashed through the same wall seconds later. But more bandits were now piling towards him from street corners and alleyways, and Luigi knew he could not fend them all off. He was going to have to run.

Blasting away the bandits in front of him, he left his flashlight behind and began his uphill battle, jumping from one pile of debris to the next. The bandits tried climbing over the obstacles but were clearly slowing down behind the champion of long jumping. But they were quick to adapt, and others began trying to jump on him from above, forcing Luigi to send them flying into the sky with his wand.

"Hey!" came a voice." Get up here quick!" Luigi looked up and saw a handful of Koopa Troopas shouting at him from the top of the road. Well, so much for secrecy. Now it was a matter of survival.

"Too late! Watch out!" Clunking sounds were heard and Luigi barely dodged what appeared to be an oil drum set afire. Multiple of them were sent down the hill and the bandits, now numbering around 20 finally started to act somewhat panicked and some had already given up and left the group. With an ingenious idea, Luigi stopped on a rock and shot a whirling spell at one of the rolling drums which exploded in a monstrous flame, sending a wave of debris tumbling down the hill engulfing a number of bandits in its wake. The rest finally dispersed, not wanting to deal with the Koopaling in charge as a river of fire rolled down the hill.

With that, Luigi made it to the top of the hill where he was immediately swarmed by Koopa Troopa's. He put his wand away on instinct.

"So you're the hero?" said one. "That was pretty sick, dude!"

"Yeah, but I'm sure he ain't here hunting bandits!" said another, more suspicious.

"I'm heading east to Birabuto." Luigi claimed, which was true enough. "This is the only way to get there. The pipes are all torn up from the sea south, one of them goes directly to it. It doesn't work now."

"Bummer." said the first. "I don't know what the hell's in Birabuto these days, most people went west. You can spend the night in the inn if you want. There's only a few of us left now."

"Yeah, sane folk left." replied the second. "And I swear you look familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. Oh well, these are rough times and you look pretty shaken up. Talk to Bob in the inn and he can fix ya something cheap. Don't stay too long."

Luigi followed the group up a different road relatively clear of debris up towards what he guessed was Bowser's Castle. The area surrounding it was fenced off with a wooden wall hastily constructed and guarded by soldiers wearing different uniforms. Indeed, even Luigi's overalls were now well weathered and browned from his adventure, no doubt helping to disguise his identity. His growing facial beard helped in this also, and he didn't want to know what would happen otherwise. He was nearly halfway through the kingdom already.

Upon climbing a short steep hill, they reached the outer wall which was closed by a pair of steel gates, bent erratically indicating their quick construction.

"Josef!" called out one of the Koopa Troopa's. "We got another traveler! Says he's heading to Birabuto!"

A Koopa with a drunken gaze came out from the side of the wall and stared at Luigi. "Don't even know that way's passable." he remarked. "Yeah, you can come in but I'll have to say a word to the King. Not often we get people going that way you know."

The gates opened and the group made their way inside the complex before the gates promptly shut behind them. Here, it seemed much more lively than the outside with buildings occupied and seemingly well lit not with electricity, but with torches and oil lamps. The electricity had indeed been cut through the whole kingdom, Luigi thought. The entire area seemed to surround a few hundred homes and other buildings, apparently trying to group up the survivors into one location. Those lights he saw in the sky days ago did something to the kingdom and he needed to find out what.

The smell of garbage returned Luigi to reality, staring down the street he was walking on. It was filthy, with garbage littered along the sides along with a number of people sleeping there in ratty clothing. Some people looked at him as they passed, but none seemed willing to find out who he was, a far cry from the old days of Bowser. The whole atmosphere seemed rather anarchist.

"The inn is straight ahead on the left." said one of the Troopa's, pointing towards it. "We'll give you word if the King will allow you passage. We've had a lot of treasonous folk bolt here recently. No offense." With that, the group dispersed in various directions, leaving Luigi to himself. Upon looking around, he saw the inn to his left just across the street, simply titled "Koopa City Inn." He walked towards it, deciding to get as much sleep as he could.

"Psst!"

The voice came from an alleyway, and the shadow of a hand was seen beckoning Luigi to come towards it. As he did so, the shadow disappeared into the darkness but as Luigi looked down the alley, he saw another shadow again beckoning him towards that direction. He got the point. Quickly sneaking down the alley, he reached a corner before the shadow of some inhuman hand appeared on the back wall.

"Stop." said a raspy voice. It sounded familiar. "You don't want to see this face."

"Um, who are you?" Luigi asked.

"Heh, I'm not surprised." it said. "I sound terrible. The Galaxy ruined it, ruined my face. Here, let me show you." A new shadow appeared on the brickwork, clearly the shape of a face with round protruding ears and what looked like a snout that was partially cut off.

"Mouser." Luigi muttered.

"There you go." Mouser said. "Been a while, huh?"

"Yeah..." Luigi trailed off, thinking of other things. "Mario's dead."

"So I hear. A nice little battle with Bowser then boom! Meteor hits them both. Critical hit."

"Not funny." Luigi muttered. "What do you want?"

"Wanted to talk." said Mouser. "Don't have much time left, you can see. Things you must know. This Kingdom is gone. All gone, destroyed. They moved west over the crags. New land over that way."

"They migrated?" Luigi asked.

"That's the word." Just then the ground rumbled beneath them, an apparent earthquake tremor which lasted for several seconds before stopping just as quickly. "Heh, ground rumbles everyday here. Something about plate borders and other science. But anyway, it's all a wasteland. Frozen wasteland after this is over. You wont find much here."

Luigi remembered E. Gadd's presentation on board the Galaxy some time ago and remembered parts of the Koopa Kingdom becoming the new North Pole.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised, huh?" Luigi said to himself.

"There's another thing." said Mouser. "Thought of you when I saw him, Waluigi. He survived the crash."

"Where/" Luigi asked, worried.

"I was just north of Wario's turf. Or, what was Wario's turf. Anyway, I was headed up here and was thinking about crossing the sea using a pipe...stupid, I know. Then I hear this rambling out to the East, in that rocky desert that surrounds Larry Koopa's turf, Genlic and I saw him. He looked like some hobo in a plumbers outfit, and I gotta tell you, his head was out of control. Mind, hair, everything. Kept talking to himself about his love and how he was coming for her."

"He was going north, right?" asked Luigi.

"Yeah, more or less." said Mouser. "His feet were everywhere, but I'm thinking he came from that Beanbean Kingdom to the southeast, then turned north. He'll probably pass near Genlic any day now, but that's what, 10-12 miles from him? I don't know if he'll do it the hard way, but he'll probably try to cross the Eastern Channel into Birabuto."

"Mama Mia, that's all I need to know." Luigi sighed.

"Heh, that's all I wanted to say." claimed Mouser. "I saw you and figured 'Hey, I should tell that plumber that he's not the only one after the Princess.' Plus, with the way things are going, I doubt I'll be seeing you again after this. Ever."

"Well, thanks for the tip." said Luigi, turning to go. "I hope you won't get into any more trouble."

Mouser laughed. "It's gonna happen. But I got no bad blood with you, that's all I want to say. Have a good life."

"Thanks. Good luck." With that, Luigi made his way out of the alley, realizing that he needed to manage his time better if he wanted to beat Waluigi, in many ways his anti-self. Impatient yet filled with more purpose, Luigi checked into the inn and walked to the front counter.

"One room, please." Luigi asked. A red and black toad turned around sporting a pair of shades.

"Hinopio!" Luigi exclaimed, remembering him from the Koopa Bar aboard the Galaxy.

"Hey, it's a Mario Brother." said Hinopio with an enthused tone. "You sleep for free. No coins, no beer, no nothing."

"Yahoo! Thanks!" said a rather cheered up Luigi and he made his way up the stairs to the second floor, which was relatively undamaged. Picking the closest empty room, he shut the door, took off his tool belt and promptly cast himself onto the bed. He was lucky to find another one, and by the sound of it, it might be his last before reaching Daisy's Castle. Luigi soon drifted off, dreaming dreams of fulfillment.


	4. 35: Ludwig's Castle

(knock knock)

Luigi moaned and rolled over to look at his watch. It was 8:26 AM.

"The king would like to see you immediately." The king? What did he want from him?

"Uh, am I under arrest?" Luigi tiredly replied.

"You are not going to the dungeon." was his response.

"Okay." Luigi muttered, getting up. Grabbing his tool belt, he put it on before walking to the door. After a moment, he looked into the door's peephole and saw a single Koopatrol waiting outside. Finally, Luigi opened the door and the Koopatrol looked at him.

"The king has requested your presence. Please follow me." With that, he marched off with Luigi following, already wanting his morning coffee. He was a bit sore from the previous day and hoped he wasn't getting into any more trouble.

They made their way down the wooden steps and out of the inn with the Koopatrol taking a left onto main street. The morning didn't look much brighter than the previous night with a volcanic gloom covering much of the northeastern part of the kingdom. The streets were more lively than before but not joyous; the commoners were absorbed in their own thoughts and did not pay Luigi any mind as they walked past.

At length, the Koopatrol took a turn to the left toward a pair of gates that looked far better constructed than what he had seen a night earlier. The Koopatrol saluted, and the gates were opened by unseen forces. Making their way through, it was a stretch of time before Luigi saw Bowser's Castle up close and what a mess it was. Rock lay scattered all around its circumference, some in large piles and the architecture was barely recognizable. In fact, it looked more like a damaged medieval work than one of Bowser's modern castles.

"What happened here?" Luigi finally asked.

"There was a war." the Koopatrol responded. "The king can tell the rest of the story. He knows it better than I." They made their way up a wooden ramp that led upwards to the front gate of the castle. Below, Luigi saw piles of bones, species he could not recognize. Reaching the gate, the doors opened automatically and they went inside. The doors closed behind them. Servants went this way and that, but to Luigi they didn't look like servants. Plainly dressed without any unique identifiers, they looked more like everyday people than official staff. Volunteers?

Reaching a large stone staircase, the Koopatrol began the upwards ascent with the green plumber following. After what seemed like walking 100 steps, they reached the top to what appeared to be a small throne room near the top of the castle, or at least a makeshift throne room with tables and chairs set up to the sides with a throne situated in the back. Sitting in one of these chairs was a large Koopaling with a purple shell eating something that resembled meat. The left side of his face was scarred, with his skin seemingly lumpy and disfigured.

"Your highness, Luigi." announced the Koopatrol. The Koopaling merely looked up and Luigi remembered him now: Roy. He was one of the worst ones. But he didn't say anything and just looked at Luigi while he ate, At length he waved his hand and the Koopatrol saluted before departing.

"So, what do ya think?" Roy asked, chomping on another piece of bacon.

"Um..." Luigi was not sure what to say to that. He just didn't want to get pummeled.

"Well?"

"I don't feel like fighting you today." Luigi managed to say.

"Hah! Dis is the end of the world. Doesn't matter now. You have no princess, I have no grudge. Want some food?" he asked.

While Luigi was able to get along with a few of the Koopalings on board the Galaxy, Roy was not one of them. Then again, he didn't talk to him much out of fear and a lot had happened since then. Plus, refusing free food was folly these days and he didn't know where he would find something good to eat after this.

"Okay." Luigi said, reluctantly sitting down across from the menacing turtle. Roy snapped his finger and instantly, two "waiters" appeared with plates of pancakes and bacon along with a couple bottles of liquor. Taking a bottle of rum, Roy poured it over his pancakes before slapping a large slab of butter on them. "So, who you comin' this way for?"

"I'm trying to save my princess." Luigi admitted, taking a slice of bacon.

"Why come this way? Could've went up Diamond City, then find a pipe there. Or more north till you find one."

Luigi shook his head. "Most of the pipes back home are broken. The shortest way on foot is through here."

"Same with dis shithole." Roy muttered, eating a good chunk of his pancakes. "Can't move anywhere without stepping on shit."

"I heard there was a war here, but I don't know much else."

Roy grunted. "Yeah, we had a war. I caused it. It was my fault. If I hadn't moved my foot to that brat's face, none of this would've happened. Brat's dead now, heard Iggy killed him more or less."

"Bowser Junior?"

"That's the fuck. Long story, but here's the short of it. Guys ruled behind the scenes. The UmNaru, sons of gods. Controlled dad, made him do things he didn't want to do, controlled others or something like that. They got me for a while. Wanted Junior to be the next king, had to help him. No choice in that. There's wands and battles and earthquakes. Lemmy blasted me off the castle tops. Haven't been the same since. Three kings fought the UmNaru. Lots of light in the sky. Ludwig got the main guy, Iggy got the rest. Kingdom is now a shitpile. That about sums it up."

Luigi nodded. In many ways, he shouldn't have been surprised. The Koopa's were a war-like race bent on personal glory and domination. Seeing a war breakout after Bowser's death was almost to be expected, really. He drank a glass of orange juice as he put the puzzle together. The lights he had seen in the sky a few days earlier must have been a part of that war.

"So you're here to look after what's left." Luigi guessed.

Roy said nothing and chomped down the rest of his pancakes.

"Have any survival plans?" Luigi asked, with the Koopaling's demeanor bugging him.

But Roy laughed at that and leaned back on his seat. "I'm going down with da ship. I've done a lot of bad. Killed numbers beyond count, I can't remember how many. Bullied my family for years. Invaded countless lands, killed their people. Then poof!" He made a show with his hands. "I wake up. The guy I bullied the most wakes me up. And den I have to pay it all back, everything I did. Huge debt. What do I do? I try, you have to try. But I'm going to do them a favor..." he trailed off, looking out a window towards main street below. "But I'll leave them something. Gotta."

Luigi was silent, deciding to indulge himself while he still could. Roy said nothing for quite a while, immersed in his own thoughts. A new world was taking shape that he felt had little to do with him. He couldn't see a role for him to play. Maybe his glory days were over. In any case, he still planned on doing what he had planned on for a while.

After much time, Luigi got up. "Thanks for the breakfast." he said. "I should get going before anything happens to Daisy."

Roy waved his hand. "I have to make up you know. It was all bad business. Have to make up for it. Go and be happy."

Luigi smiled. "You too." And he left the room, mostly remembering how he got there in the first place. Roy frowned. He was not satisfied. If he was going to make up, then he would have to do a lot more than this.

Out of the corner of his eye, Roy saw a shadow dance on the wall in the back of the room. "are you done?" came a voice, feminine.

Roy turned and looked at her. "For now. I'll come around in a sec." That seemed to satisfy her as she turned and left the room. He ate one last bacon strip before getting up. He may have left a bad legacy, but there were ways to make amends...

* * *

Scrambled eggs sizzled over an open fire while others passed out plates and utensils to the denizens who had awaken not long before. While many indeed looked tired of what has occurred so far, others seemed to be more alert and awake, quietly talking to themselves in hushed tones. One officer, walking by a campfire pointed to the group that sat around it and most of the others simply nodded, already understanding what he meant.

Over his own pampered breakfast, Ludwig watched them collaborate together from within the safety of his armored transport via several monitors in front of him. They were clearly not going to cease their attempts at overthrowing him and Kylie, now that the structural hierarchy was crumbling apart. While the attempts could be written off as "Koopa nature," Ludwig wondered if there was more to this that what could be seen. His magic scans indicated a subtle, underlying black magic influence over the greater group that followed him. The UmNaru were considered extinct, but that didn't mean that their servants wouldn't try to fill their shoes. They would want their revenge after their brutal defeat.

"I hope you're not thinking about going out there." Kylie remarked, eating a bacon egg sandwich.

"It appears I will not be." Ludwig replied. "According to my observations, a subversive plot is currently being conjured between certain militants and bureaucrats, with a few politicians certainly having their word. It seems we must keep hidden from public view for the time being."

"Remember what I said the other day? You got a prize now and everyone wants a piece of it? Sitting here happy won't helps us any."

"And as I previously specified, my castle shall not be sitting here for very long." Ludwig said. "I am taking the warnings of our visitors seriously, especially after the preceding fallout."

"They must think we're nuts right now." commented Kylie. "I'm full of eggs and I'm being hunted at the same time. I feel like the easter bunny."

"A reference to Earth culture, I believe." remarked Ludwig. "An unavoidable influence, considering our previous development."

"Hey, I'm curious. Did anybody find out if the pipe to Earth was still attached?"

"Recently? I do not believe so." said Ludwig. "An expedition was set up shortly before the civil war, which concluded that a similar happenstance is currently underway on Earth, in which the populace is largely unaware. Quite fascinating, especially hearing of their supposed unawareness of natural disasters occurring around them. It seems the mammals have a greater incidence of denial amongst them, if the former princess of the Mushroom Kingdom has not yet proved. But in other words, a very similar scenario."

"I guess the Mario Brothers are the exception." commented Kylie.

"They were the exception, in any case." said Ludwig. "As only one remains."

"Oh, that's right." Kylie frowned, not liking what happened to Mario. "I don't like remembering that. I mean, look at how many times he;s had to save her from your dad. Then this pole shift thing happens and they call it quits. Happy ever after, right? Nope. Your dad was a menace. Why did he go and ruin it for everyone?"

"It was more complicated than you currently imagine." said Ludwig. "It all began during childhood when they first met, envoy's of the late King Morton. Suffering a defeat from what I now consider to be an UmNaru staged victory, we had sent a party of negotiation to the castle of the Mushroom Kingdom with the hair apparent present along with his sister. They were placed together within an adolescent nursery as a sign of good will, and-"

There was a loud knock on his door. "Your majesty, are you all right? Do you require any amenities?"

"That is not my policy." Ludwig muttered under his breath. He made a motion to Kylie, who got the hint. Taking out the polarized Wand of the Earth, they began to cast a spell as they had previously planned,

Outside the vehicle were a group of soldiers, with a few of Ludwig's militia at the head. One of these pounded the door again. "Your majesty, are you ill? Does the Queen require assistance?" No response came, and he turned to the group behind him, nodding his head.

"I apologize your majesty, but I must enter the vehicle." A pair of Koopa's ran up and quickly placed a bob-omb upon the door's outer edge and the group ran for cover. In moments, there was a small explosion followed by the group running up to the door with crowbars and a variety of weapons. The explosion did not destroy the door, but it did destroy whatever was locking it shut. Several Koopa's pryed the door open and immediately entered the transport.

"Your majesty!" But the Koopa stopped short. There was nobody in the vehicle, but there were signs of a rushed breakfast.

"What now?" asked one businessman.

"They were just here!" claimed another. "Did they see us coming?"

A soldier pointed to a collage of video screens in the corner. "Yeah, this sucks."

"We can't say he died now, can we?" asked one mechanic,

"Yeah. If they warped into that castle, then this sucks." the soldier continued. "Plus, we haven't started-"

"I know where it is." said a soldier in Ludwig's militia. "we haven't gotten there yet but we're not far. If we start moving now, we might have a chance."

"So the King and Queen are incapacitated?" asked the businessman.

"It'll have to work." said the soldier, and the crew filed out of the vehicle with their new plan. "Let's get moving! Ludwig needs medical attention!"

* * *

Kylie teleported inside of a large rock cavern, circular in shape and lit with white lights hanging from the ceiling along with strips of blue light on the walls. A path crossed through it, similarly lighted on either end. On the other side of the room was an elevator shaft which stretched upwards out of sight. Ludwig was nowhere to be seen. Kylie sighed to herself.

"Did I mess up again?" she thought aloud, still having problems with her teleportation spells. She was definitely in the tunnels that surrounded Ludwig Castle, but where was the question. She did not know much of its layout, but if she had to guess then the correct direction was directly in front of her.

"Code 4 alert! Code 4 alert!" came a computerized voice which echoed throughout the room. The whole area around her was filled with rumblings and slams of machinery. An elevator was seen traveling down from the shaft above her before resting on her level. Bulkheads closed above it, blocking access to the outside. The white lights above suddenly went dark, with the blue along the wall shifting to red. She held up the Earth Wand like a flashlight, letting its reddish glow grant her vision. She saw that the path on either side had been closed off by bulkheads. She was effectively trapped.

"Um..." Kylie walked up to one of the bulkheads and quickly saw there was no obvious way of opening it. There was no keypad or switch anywhere near it. She knew that Ludwig was obviously in this place somewhere, but she had no way of contacting him.

Or did she? "Oh wait...I keep forgetting that." she thought to herself. Of course, she forgot all about her new telepathic abilities since becoming the new Queen. Realigning her mind to her mind as Ludwig taught her, she listened just in case he was trying to talk to her.

"...to your location." she heard, definitely Ludwig's voice.

"Okay, well I'm trapped in here." she relayed back.

"You must be near Elevator Shaft Three,, judging by your position." she heard Ludwig say. "Luckily, I am extremely close to that location."

Moments later, the door behind her shuttered before moving upwards, revealing Ludwig wielding his personal wand. Walking through it, he used the wand to move the door back down into place.

"It appears your teleportation abilities still require tweaking." grinned Ludwig.

"Yeah, well you said no further than the shaft." she argued.

"As a general guideline, yes." said Ludwig. "However, the target location was the inside entrance to the complex. This is where I initiated Code 4, which activates invasion mode. Essentially, all passages to the outside are closed with 2 foot palladium bulkheads with one inch titanium plating on either side. This includes emergency routes and other secret path in which they would undoubtedly try to use to their advantage. However, without a mobile station which scans one's person for DNA recognition, the only way to open these bulkheads is this." He held up his wand. "Trust me, we are quite impenetrable in here."

"I'd ask you about someone cracking into those things." said Kylie, but she clutched her stomach. "My kids are getting feisty again. We should get going."

Ludwig huffed. "I am one lucky Koopa." he said half truthfully and half sarcastically.

"Yes you are." wooed Kylie, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Will you require help?" Ludwig asked, noticing her leaning forward.

"No, not yet." responded Kylie.

"Then let us hurry." said Ludwig, opening the door with his wand. "It seems the last phase is approaching, and you may be unable to walk soon."

"Don't underestimate me." warned Kylie. "Watch me make it to the end of this." They walked past the door before Ludwig moved it into the ground. They continued down the hallway in silence, each using their wands to illuminate the path before them. The walk was uneventful, the path being a square cut in the rock with few marks on either wall. Kylie did notice what appeared to be booby traps outlined in the walls, but little else.

Reaching another bulkhead, Ludwig opened it and they passed through before he closed it again. After this, Kylie swore they walked a mile before the reached another bulkhead, this time more than twice their height and wider on either end. By this point, Kylie had to lean on the wall as she had not expected so much exercise in her state.

"This is the secondary bulkhead." explained Ludwig. "From here, we enter the second shaft, which separates us from the primary bulkhead to the castle. In other words, we are getting close." With a keypad on the wall, Ludwig punched in a code to open the doors, along with a retina scan. Completed, the doors slowly opened sideways revealing a very large and well lit space, and the first thing Kylie noticed was the enormous bulkhead on the back wall. It must have been over 70 feet tall, crafted out of a thick metal and emblazoned with Ludwig's logo in its center. Between the duo, the floor was non-existent, a large black space over 50 feet across in both directions that plunged into unknown depths. Catwalks lined either side of this space before joining together just below the massive doorway.

"Wow..." said a somewhat impressed Kylie. "I don't think people know how much work you put into this."

"They will, shortly." Ludwig smirked, walking to another keypad and punching in a few more codes. The path behind them became filled with obstacles, including some that Kylie had seen in the walls now jutting out in preparation for any intruders. Ludwig closed the bulkheads shortly after, trapping them in the large room.

"Isn't this slightly overkill?" Kylie asked, walking with Ludwig onto the catwalk.

"One cannot go wrong in imagining every possibility." said Ludwig. "I had foreseen the possible potential of my father's lecherous subordinates migrating to my camp to continue their extravaganza lifestyles. This has occurred more so than previously thought, but does not matter now in any case. While this facility was built to withstand such invasion attempts including a potential siege, little of that matters now as the plan has changed considerably. This fortification was built with the thought of hiding from the pole shift in mind."

"Well that's not going to happen." Kylie pointed out. "I wouldn't let you do it anyway. This is the last place I want to be my grave."

"An inherent truth, I may add." Ludwig said. "One that the Kappur have so enlightened us about."

Directly below the center of the bulkhead was a monitor affixed to a post next to a stairway that led up to the door itself. Ludwig dismissed his floating head screen saver and enabled final activation mode. A pair of red lights on either side of the door went off, and the screen asked for an alphanumeric password.

"This will be just a moment." said Ludwig, taking out his wallet and a photo of Kylie, before flipping it around to reveal the 29 character code. As he punched it in, a fear suddenly overswept the Queen.

"Hey."

"What?" Ludwig asked.

"What if we don't make it?" she asked.

"Then that is all that can be done." said Ludwig. "If one performs to the best of their ability and yet death overtakes them, then so be it. We cannot ask for more than what we are capable of."

Kylie did not respond. Ludwig stopped himself and sighed. "Do not think of your life as unworthy. If you are incarnate now and alive in the flesh, then you deserve your chance at existence. Do not spend much time despairing, lest you forget to live your own life. The only way to survive now is progression and adaptation, not stagnation."

"Thanks, that helps a lot." said Kylie.

"Don't forget that the little ones are more than likely feeling what you currently feel." Ludwig pointed out.

But Kylie scoffed. "Can I feel what I want to once in a while? Geez, you know I can't drink anything to stem this either!"

Ludwig did not immediately respond, sensing Kylie to be reaching her stress threshold. "You have been through much," he started, "And I will not ask much more of you during your term. Just remember this: when facing uncertainties, do not allow yourself to be controlled by your fears. Simply walk through them."

A beep, and the code was accepted. Low noise sirens sounded and the bulkhead began to unlock itself. "Electrical power online. Running pre-diagnostic checks. Supports nominal. No artificial substances detected. Engine in standby mode. Unlocking primary bulkhead."

The bulkhead finally disengaged its primary locks and slowly parted to the sides. Expecting to see her husband's castle in all its glory, Kylie was surprised to see only a narrow passage, cut as high as the door way and veering left around the corner. The rest looked like solid concrete made some time ago.

"That's...really anti-climatic." Kylie complained.

"Originally, this was a space used during the construction phase." said Ludwig. "However, upon its completion I felt it wiser to align the entrance with my defensive plans and thus shored the space with concrete, Do not worry, the climax is ahead."

"That reminds me of that time when-"

"Hugh." silence Ludwig, walking up the steps. "I have more than made up for that since then."

"Mmm, mostly." Kylie hummed, following him. "But I'll wait for the rest. My back is kind of busy right now."

"We are nearly there." They went through the left turn of the passage before veering right through another corner. Eventually, the concrete walls fell away and the found themselves standing on top of a precipice, flanked by narrow rock walls on either side. The view ahead of them was pitch black and nothing could be seen.

Walking to yet another monitor, Ludwig began the activation sequence. A loud clunk was heard followed by a whirring noise that continuously accelerated in pitch. Lights blinked to life, not on the walls by tiny specs in what appeared to be narrow windows inside a massive structure of some kind. They danced on through it, illuminating the countless floors before the outer beacons, green and blue were finally lit. The whole picture slowly came to view and the sheer size of it could finally be seen. It had to be at least 1,000 feet across and at least that much high, though the structure was more horizontal than vertical. Unlike most castles, this was not constructed of stone but of metal with its sleek design reminiscent of the Galaxy. More whirring noises were heard, generators starting up in the distance and the whole space started to become illuminated, grid by grid powering on. The lights reached upward hundreds of feet above the complex to a central point that was barely in sight. It was as if Ludwig had gutted out an entire mountain to build his castle inside of it.

"So what do you think?" asked Ludwig. "Do you think it will meet your requirements?"

"Hell yeah." Kylie exclaimed. "But there's one little thing. How are you going to get this out of here with just the two of us?"

"Yes, we are slightly incapacitated with the lack of an able bodied crew." said Ludwig. "However, after some thought, the launch of the castle only requires three individuals for it to be successful. The third person I will be able to acquire shortly."

* * *

After finishing lunch, Larry Koopa walked through the halls that led to his room, thinking of writing in his journal for a while. On his side of the globe, the weather was clear with a blue sky, and the light danced upon the ocean that sloshed to his left below him. Indeed, life seemed to be getting better for him after deciding to try and let go of his old life.

"Greetings Lawrence." he heard the familiar voice of Ludwig say in his mind. "I must require your assistance in activating Ludwig's Castle."

"Don't you have—oh." Larry frowned, now seeing his situation. He then immediately cast a teleportation spell and manifested in front of the Earth couplet. "I warned you." he said, reminding him.

"Yes, and so did many other entities." said Ludwig. "In essence, this has been quite the humbling experience. Nevertheless, the behemoth is more dangerous left alone to fate than to the clinging claws of ourselves."

"Are you still going to put this thing in the Koopai valley?" Larry asked.

"Indubitably." said Ludwig. "With a slight change. Rather than performing a landing and lock the underside to the foundations currently in place, I shall have the castle hover above it to help ward off intruders similar to what I had only recently witnessed."

"What a surprise that was." Larry sarcastically thought to himself, remembering seeing Ludwig's encounter on the Koopahari Pass. Ludwig may have inherited Bowser's constructive abilities, but he certainly did not have his foresight. He had too much faith in other people, perhaps a coping mechanism to help maintain his own lifestyle. Denial ran in many forms. Why else would he escape to a high tech fortress to ride out the shift?

Larry remembered Bowser's words aboard the Galaxy when he was first handed the Wand of the Blood. Even if he was under the control of the UmNaru then, his words were not entirely incorrect:

"_...He's too arrogant for his own self worth so naturally he'll be angry. He would rather watch my kingdom burn into ashes just to live his vengeance than try to save it. That is why he cannot rule! He _must not rule_. I need someone who can save whatever remains. Our lineage must survive and I will not see it destroyed by some pompous idiot. Out of all of my kids, at least someone has taken it upon himself to try to survive."_

Given what's happened since then, Larry really didn't blame himself for his actions. But now that things have calmed down a little bit, he could see the consequences of his choices. He had confirmed Ludwig's ascension to King of the Earth himself as did his brother Iggy Koopa. After all, anyone who defeats Dac'Leon deserves some kind of high honor. And that's what it should have been, a high honor.

It was clear that Ludwig had the well being of his citizens in mind, but not from a survival scenario mentality. He wasn't going to be the one gardening from a shed or tending to a flock of albatross. Instead, Ludwig promoted a luxurious lifestyle that ran counter to sustainable living. Funny, because the very people that would be interested in his offer just back-stabbed him earlier. It was a warning to the Earth King, and Larry knew that if Ludwig did not see that, then his older brother might not make it.

It was one thing to speak an ideal. After all, words were just words. But it was another thing to live it, and Ludwig clearly wasn't living what he had explained. This was just an excuse to maintain his own lifestyle. In any event, getting his castle out of here was better than leaving it in.

"Alright, let's get this done." said Larry, looking over the precipice. "Where is the front gate?"

"It is down below you, left of your person." said Ludwig, pointing past Larry. Taking hold of Kylie, they disappeared in a flash of blue light before reappearing down below Larry. A gate opened, double doors parting to the sides and a ramp extended outwards towards the ground. Larry snorted. Pompous as usual.

Feeling more athletic, Larry jumped off the precipice, plunging about 20 feet before slamming his feet into the ground below. He looked up at the beast above him as he walked towards it. To him, it looked like the Galaxy redux, albeit more horizontal than vertical. But those days were over, and a space station that catered to every need was not needed on the surface. That was the last thing that was needed, to bury one's head in luxury while pretending to care about the suffering of others.

"Marvelous, isn't it?" said Ludwig. "I must give you a tour in the near future, but for now this must suffice. Come, I shall show you what needs to be done."

All three monarchs ascended the ramp and entered the castle. Lights beamed through the futuristic looking hallway, confirming Larry's theory. It was a large hallway, seemingly built to accommodate many people at once. Other halls branched off it, clearly lounges and places of that type. Passing by some windows, Larry almost felt like he was looking out into space again, until the outlines of rock could be seen surrounding the castle. In many ways, that's what the Galaxy really was, a shelter against insecurity and the judgments of others. Was he trying to do this all over again?

On their left were elevators that lined the wall, which Ludwig walked up to before pushing one of the buttons. A pair of doors opened and the trio stepped inside.

"In order to release the castle from its confines, I require at least three individuals." Ludwig explained to Larry. "I request that you fulfill the role of pilot, while the Queen tackles the diagnostic checks as I accommodate the engine room."

"If it's anything like the Galaxy then I can probably do it." said Larry.

"There are similarities." Ludwig admitted. "I will show you."

The elevator came to a stop and the three walked out into a narrower hallway. They did not travel far when Ludwig stopped in front of another door, fingering a set of keys. Finding the right one, he turned it and punched in a code before the door opened, revealing another elevator. To Larry, such a large amount of security was pointless for a so-called survival shelter.

Getting in, the door closed and the elevator quickly moved upwards before coming to a stop. The doors opened, revealing the bridge of the castle. It was much smaller than Larry thought it would be, with only four seats placed around the front screen with a fifth set behind them, set higher than the others.

"The basic controls are rather rudimentary." said Ludwig, walking to the pilot's chair. "Altimeter, pitch and roll...please check the atmosphere pressure gauge on occasion for any pressure shifts as we exit the mountain complex. Otherwise, the ascent has been programmed into the mainframe, therefore most instruments will be running on autopilot. If you require assistance, you may call the radio or through the usual means."

With that, the two exited the room without another word, leaving Larry to himself. He was beginning to feel resentment for being used like a tool for his elder brother's machinations, especially after contemplating Ludwig's true motives. After all, this castle main purpose seemed to maintain Ludwig's lifestyle and those who thought along similar lines. How ironic.

With a sigh of frustration, Larry began fiddling with the controls to get himself more familiar with the console. One screen was at the beginning of a diagnostic checkup, while others provided views from around the structure via cams attached to the hull.

"Kylie shall begin the diagnostics check." said Ludwig through a radio console, just reaching the engine room. "We must launch as soon as possible."

* * *

A Koopa hurriedly made his way inside a green tent where many people were discussing something on a table in front of them.

"He thinks we'll try the main entrance." said the same soldier from earlier. "That's why he barricaded everything with titanium plated bulkheads, just in case we brought our tanks with us."

"They'd blow them apart anyway." claimed one raggy looking Koopa.

"Maybe two of them" the soldier replied. "He has 50 feet of these things past the entrance. But we're not going in that way. There's emergency exits here, here and here that are close to the main entrance. He probably has these blocked off, but its only one layer. A bob-omb should take care of those. Once we're in, we head straight this way." He pointed down a corridor. "That leads to the castle."

"Going in there alone...I don't know what the fuck he was thinking." muttered the mechanic, "He can't start that castle, or whatever it is by himself."

"The castle is a highly advanced piece of machinery." the soldier said. "Shelter there-"

The ground suddenly shook, knocking dozens of people from their feet. Immediately after, there was a more gradual shaking and many supplies flew to the ground.

"Earthquake!" exclaimed many, running out of the tent in a hurry. The Earth was indeed moving and many cast themselves to the ground, unable to maintain their balance.

"That bastard probably did this on purpose." scowled a well dressed businessman, now clinging to the ground for his life. But most people were to shocked to say anything. The road in which they traveled became covered with dirt as a small landslide washed across it, separating them and the rest of the population less than a mile away. The latter frantically picked up their supplies and turned back on the road in an attempt to escape the carnage. The renegade party was trapped.

"Look!" cried one, pointing to the mountains. One of the pointed peaks of the Crags suddenly cracked straight down its middle and parted both ways with a loud noise. Rocks tumbled from its height which rolled down the hills surrounding it soon creating an avalanche of rock and mud. The solider knew where this was going.

"Down the hill! Down the hill!" he cried, trying to run down the steep drop below him without losing balance. But not all followed, the prize of safety and food stores too much for them to let go and even in that moment, some went the other way and scurried to the main entrance to the complex some feet away, despite a bulkhead had sealed it shut. Others scrambled over it, looking for one of the emergency exits to use as an entrance. But the rock-slide had grown in size and was devouring everything in front of its path, and it began to cover the higher exits into Ludwig's underground complex. For those who changed their minds, it was too late. Running back, they were no match for the rock slide and they were buried alive as it rolled down the mountainsides.

For those brave enough to look behind them, they would have seen what at first looked like a large eruption of rock pour from the opening of the mountain, furthering the momentum below. But as it rose and more rock fell below, it became clear that this was a large structure, horizontal in shape that was lifting itself into the air from the mountain depths below. For those travelers who saw the sight, some stopped having already putting the pieces together, though still more fled the scene, too scared of the potential catastrophe that might await them.

Meanwhile, in the bridge the whole scene was visible from Larry's viewpoint, and he shook his head at the sight. "Defeats the purpose, doesn't it?" he muttered, fiddling with the sensory controls. The screen shifted from actual to infrared upon the flip of a switch. "But, this is pretty fancy." he admitted. Infrared shifted to night vision, and from there to heat detection. People here were more clearly seen, some driving down the road they came, others holding back but many were scattered and motionless across the landscape, presumably dead. Zooming in, Larry followed the trail of bodies to a separate camp just outside the entrance, not half buried in rock.

"Hey Ludwig, you didn't tell anybody to camp outside the entrance, right" Larry asked over the radio.

"That is correct." said Ludwig. "They have presumably made a move after my departure, but little of that matters now. Their settlement, especially their plans should now lie buried in debris as planned, covering most entrances to the facility below us. Our focus now lies upon the population tat has followed us until now, and their general safety and concern. Of course, they will not be able to board this vessel immediately due to a lack of a solid surface to land upon. However, I shall give them an announcement as to my current thoughts."

Reading Ludwig's mind (to an extent), Larry piloted the castle towards the southwest, or to his 10 o' clock, turning more left to try and reach the people fleeing from the landslides. The castle was dirty from its rushed launch from within the mountain, but high winds aloft began to help clear the debris especially as Larry descended in altitude hugging the rock face of the Crags,

In the engine room, Ludwig stabilized the current flow to his massive toroid reactor before sitting down at a desk. Taking a radio, he switched between frequencies before finding the desired result.

"Alpha 9, come in. This is Delta 5." he relayed.

"Delta 5, how's it going?" came Morton's response. "I hope you're in that flying castle headed towards me."

"Your assumption is correct." said Ludwig. "The castle has been successfully activated, albeit with a few minor disturbances along the way. The foundational release preceding to liftoff seems to have triggered an earthquake, undoubtedly felt by your person. Given your presence, I shall assume that all is well on your end?"

"Yeah." Morton replied. "Well, its alright. Road grew a few cracks and we got some other shit covering parts of it, but we're still in one piece. We should get to the southern fork by sundown, then turn north to a good spot near the Koopai river. It's an old camping ground, we'll just take te whole thing up. Lemmy's still here, he's been kind of bored."

"Glad to hear of your progress." said Ludwig. "You should be aware that the previous earthquake has sent a flurry of frightened immigrants back upon the road on which they came, and some may be heading towards your direction. We shall attempt to calm those who remain and help clear sections of road that may or may not have become impassable."

"Do you have enough fuel for that?" Morton asked. "That trip was going to be short, right? I mean, I have some excess I could leave behind right now if you want, but I don't think it's going to be enough."

Ludwig grumbled. "That is what I was afraid of. In this case, I shall attempt to land the castle at the foot of the Crags using gear specifically designed to such an event, and after boarding the denizens, will travel northwest to the location specified at the beginning of the migration. Given the current time frame, we should arrive at that location just past sundown."

"Roger that, captain." Morton replied.

"Theta 7, please come in." Ludwig relayed.

"That's like telling me not to listen to you guys talking." joked Lemmy, laughing. "Kzzz, this is Theta 7. I have received your entire conversation. Over."

"As is your duty." Ludwig said, rolling his eyes. "But in any case, the transmission is considered to be a successful event given what has transpired since my departure. A coup was attempted upon us, but foreseeing this the castle was launched earlier than planned, and the resulting landslide effectively scattered the group."

"So I guess I'll confirm it." said Lemmy. "And add that little update too."

"That would be appreciated," thanked Ludwig, "As now the Old Kingdom shall be aware of what has truly transpired in this region without the political slant the former executives were inclined to lean towards, simply to fulfill their own agendas. This will hopefully discourage those to attempt what has thus been attempted.

"In any case, we should all be reunited together come tomorrow and the most difficult leg of the migration over. Again, I wish you all luck in your endeavors and thank you for your assistance."

With that, Ludwig put the radio away and got up, casting a teleportation spell to the bridge, It was good timing, as Larry was about to try and contact Ludwig to see if he needed anything else.

"I thank you for your services, Larry." said Ludwig. "I shall be able to pilot yje course for the remaining way. It is unfortunate that events transpired in this fashion, but considering the circumstances the results are more than satisfactory."

"Things could be a lot worse." Larry said. "How's Kylie?"

"She should be completing her diagnostic duties at this time." said Ludwig, using a touchscreen to determine her location. But she was not where she was supposed to be. Ludwig took the radio next to Larry.

"Are you there, dear?" Ludwig asked, but he received no reply. He hummed to himself, unable to establish a telepathic connection with her, but he saw where she currently was.

"You need to go help her out." said Larry, seeing her breathing heavily on a chair. "She's probably in her last phase."

"So it seems." Ludwig made some adjustments to the flight path, programming the system to fly to the base pad located northwest of the Koopai river some distance. "The system is now on full autopilot. As you've suggested, I must now tend to the Queen but before I do so, I must make an announcement to the population below us as to the current standings. Therefore, I must ask-"

"Don't bother asking, I'll take care of her until you're free." said Larry, teleporting out of the room.

After thinking for a moment, Ludwig picked up the radio and switched the mode to broadcast.

"Greetings, this is King Ludwig." he began, his voice echoing across the mountainsides. "I do hope that most are safe following the earthquake just experienced. I must apologize for the plans that have otherwise gone awry. My person was forced to launch the castle preemptively due to a cabal that untruthfully announced my incapacitation in order to try and seize the castle for themselves. Fortunately, this plan has failed and I remain in good health. However, due to the landslides that have occurred, boarding the castle with the original plan is not practically impossible. I have devised a solution to tis dilemma, which is as follows: upon the successful return to the Koopahari Pass, we shall head into the lower Koopai valley, essentially following Prince Morton's route for a time. Upon reaching the base of the Koopa Crags, I shall land the castle and initiate boarding procedures from there. As those accountable for storage are well aware, we do not have enough fuel to reach the upper Koopai valley and thus must rely on the castle to get there. As was the practice from the sinkhole incident, all equipment and fuel from the remaining vehicles shall be taken into the castle upon vacation. Until that moment is reached, the focus will be focused on traveling down the Crags safely, and clearing any blocked paths as needed. If impassible, then driving off road may be required. Please take caution if this must be resorted to. Again, I apologize for what has transpired, but as the Earth Changes progress survival will become more difficult. I thank you for your patience and for your attention."

Switching the radio back to two-way communication, Ludwig breathed a sigh of relief before remembering his wife. He teleported into the room she had stumbled in earlier, one of the many single family residences available in the castle. There, he found Kylie leaning back on an armchair with Larry talking to her.

"Oh, there you are." said Kylie. "I'm afraid I'm a sitting Goomba for now. It's too heavy to walk."

"Then we have arrived just in time it seems." said Ludwig.

"You're going to need a doctor pretty soon." mentioned Larry.

"There is none on board at the current moment." said Ludwig. "However, there are several in company below us, currently traveling upon the road. Considering Kylie's current condition, I believe it will be a few days before a doctor will be required to remain at her side at all times, which is more than enough time."

"Yeah, and until then you get to do their job." snapped Kylie.

"Inevitable, apparently." sighed Ludwig. "I believe Larry should be relieved from this burden immediately."

"Fine." Kylie frowned. "I'll let the nice one go." She leaned back in the chair.

"Once again, I thank you for your help." said Ludwig.

"I do what I gotta do." Larry murmured. "Good luck to you two." With that, Larry teleported out of the room and back into that hallway in Genlic from which he came. The sun was now lower on the western horizon, and Larry guessed it was well into the late afternoon.

"Hey Larry, you there?" chirped Larry's scanner. They had recently employed a portable ham radio system for the cabinet to keep better track of each other.

"Hey Mona," Larry began. "Yeah, I was out for a while, underground helping my brother Ludwig with his luxury resort, so the signal propagation was probably shit."

"Why would anyone build a resort now?" Mona asked. "Unless they're gonna live in it."

"He calls it a pole shift shelter." Larry responded. "I guess our understandings of what makes up a shelter are completely different. He thinks a flying castle filled with lounges, bars and rooms for every family can be a survival shelter. Okay, but where's the food coming from? Who's going to grow all of that? He never says a thing about that, or how he powers it all. That thing is like a lifeline for the deniers who refuse to imagine a simple life, let alone doing any dirty work on their part."

"My mom is like that." said Mona. "She has to have the best perfume available, the best fur and obviously the best man. Pretty much the most entitled supermodel you can think of."

"Entitled..." Larry thought aloud. "That's a good way to describe him."

"Well, I'm making some dinner down here." said Mona, changing the subject. "Barbecue Goomba with a sauce I threw together if you want it."

"Yeah, I'll be down there in a few minutes." said Larry, putting his radio away.

"Okay." Mona chirped, and that was that. At least he got something out of that little favor he did for Ludwig, though the long term prospects of that little endeavor weren't good in his opinion...


	5. 36: Awe

"_None of that will happen, son. Don't believe in those conspiracy theories."_

"_Don't listen to that rubbish. Bowser did the same thing. They just want you to be fearful."_

"_Could you go to the store and pick up some Dino Chops? I'm sure they'll have 'em."_

"_Dude, you don't even know who God is. You just think you do!"_

"_Let's keep religion out of this, okay?"_

"_Where's my heaven on Earth, huh?"_

"_I got enough stocked up for this."_

"_Ludwig left because he doesn't want to be king. That's what I think."_

"_He'll probably throw it on Lemmy, right?"_

"_Why do I have such shitty cell service today?"_

"_Not much on TV either. Only a few stations coming in."_

"_Did you get your car repaired yet?"_

"_No grandma, remember what I told you? There's nobody working there anymore."_

"_That's nonsense, they would say they were closed if that were true."_

"_Why hasn't the new king cleared the streets yet?"_

"Welcome, Iggy Koopa."

Iggy opened his eyes to the vast expanse of space, with his world in the foreground. Turning around, he saw a group of Kappur standing nearby simply watching him.

"Hello Kappur." Iggy relayed telepathically.

"To be brief, we would like to show you a vision that will aid you in the times ahead. What will be presented is about to pass, so immediate action is the preferred method for tackling this situation."

They suddenly disappeared and were replaced with the sight of the solar system, which had somehow twisted itself around Iggy. The orange giant, Naru was seen slowly traveling towards the Earth, which began to buckle under the stress.

* * *

Penny awoke, her eyes now on the ancient ceiling above her. "That...was crazy." she whispered to herself. Next to her, Iggy was sleeping on his side with his back turned to her.

"Are you awake?" she asked aloud.

"What did you see?" Iggy asked monotonously.

"It was crazy. I was flying in space then I entered some type of space ship. It was definitely alien. I can't remember their faces, I just see blanks. But I remember one saying 'This is where you are supposed to be.' That kind of confused me..."

She rambled on about her dream-like experience that was obviously more than just an experience, but Iggy was hardly listening, not needing to. What Penny didn't know was that Iggy was wide-eyed, staring at the wall in front of him after having seen something that shocked him utterly.

"When?" he muttered.

"They showed me this...huh?"

But Iggy was already out of bed and had finished crawling back into his shell. "When?" He quickly walked out of the room, leaving a confused Penny behind. "...what?" was all she could say to that scene.

Iggy was already some distance down the hall when his waking conscious returned to him, effectively making him remember his teleportation abilities. In a moment, he was before Erzembar and already running up to his high seat in the middle of the room.

"Good morning." Erzembar began. "I must inform you of-"

"When?!" Iggy exclaimed, reaching his seat.

"...approximately 12:47 hours." Erzembar responded. Iggy brought up a holographic globe of the world, noting the wobble in the planet's rotation. Manifesting the sun near it, he pointed at the star and traced its path along the elliptic of the planet. "There..." he muttered to himself before dismissing the display for a view of all neural connections across the globe. Many of the Koopa's were quiet, even the one's who had suffered through landslides the previous day. Ludwig was continuing with his long thought out plan, something Iggy knew would turn out badly. The best thing to do was to let that play out. After all, the best way to convince someone of a truth was to let them see it for themselves.

But even then, it was clear that most didn't seem to care at this point, more focused on trying to survive day by day in their increasingly difficult lives. With the recent landslides, erratic weather and destruction of infrastructure, the focus on the so-called "entitled" life had dissipated and was replaced with living in the moment with what one had. The days of inherited power were fast diminishing, as such days assumed a role of traditionalism founded upon the stability of a society. That society was now fracturing, the Earth was in turmoil and people had other things to worry about other than some arrogant king trying to have his way with things. To Iggy, Ludwig's doom was already before him, though doubtless he himself could not see this. It was only a matter of time before this occurred.

Larry was a different story, having made the transition in perspective to cooperation with others. That didn't mean his problems with relationships went away, as his day to day life showed quite clearly while working with the denizens of Genlic. But at the very least, he was willing to adapt. He had learned the essentials for self sustainability early on in the process, and his gardening abilities were still being called upon almost daily. Unfortunately for him, he was going to have to deal with Ludwig at some point as managing the family is his prime responsibility as Blood King. "That's going to be a lot of fun," Iggy thought to himself.

Otherwise, as the globe showed, floods and landslides made up the great majority of the disasters now taking place, alongside Earthquakes along the active plate fault lines and the eruption of a handful of volcanoes daily. Worldwide, society was crumbling apart in every culture, some at faster rates than others but nevertheless the path was quite clear now. This is what the Earth King should be focused on, but that was a moot point at the moment. Plus, Iggy did not like performing the jobs of others if he could help it.

Speaking of which, Iggy switched his view from the holographic globe to the outskirts of the Erzembar complex. More immigrants had indeed arrived overnight, with pitched tents less than a mile from his location. It seemed many magic users had seen his presence (God's Wrath spell or otherwise) and had migrated to him looking for answers. This has been a growing problem for the past few days, as he did not expect so many people to be willing to live in desert conditions with him and neither did he have enough resources for all of them. But that was more Penny's area and not his, being the manager of the Temple of Inauro, Having enough space for them inside Erzembar itself was not the issue, the problem was and continued to be food and water.

That reminded him. "You have a purification chamber used for distilling water, so..." Iggy began. "You must have some type of chamber for food, correct?"

"Not so much a chamber..." Erzembar said, but he never finished himself.

"Something you don't want to show me." Iggy responded. "Again. There's only so many surprises you can keep before we need to use them."

Erzembar audibly sighed. "It is meant for the aftermath, not for use previous to the pole shift. I do believe your human friend has enough store of seed to feed the current contingent currently occupying the surrounding landscape."

"Seed, sure. But that was for the aftertime also. Are you saying it's fine to use them now?"

"I do contain facilities for planting seed." explained Erzembar. "Therefore, I recommend using Penny Crygor's current store of seed in the meantime at least until the disasters require one to use other measures."

"Let's see how well she responds to that without seeing what you have for alternatives." Iggy mused.

"Quite well, considering what is to occur today." reminded Erzembar. Thinking, Iggy activated Erzembar's satellites in orbit and took a peak at the current state of the world, despite seeing it all in his head to make things more convenient for him. The Earth was still twisting in place, locked in a figure 8 wobble due to the nearby presence of Naru and causing the usual weather phenomena Iggy had grown accustomed to for the past few months. The land formally known as Diamond City was now a flooded mess, the remaining residents floating on flotsam and jetsam, others stranded atop the roofs of buildings expecting rescue. Of course, none came and none would come as that city was considered all but overthrown by natural forces and the real issues were the entitled lives that people have been programmed to live. The Mushroom Kingdom was also suffering severe Earthquakes lately on it's southwestern shore in step with the plate movements that held the Yoshi Islands. Upon sight of the numerous tropical islands that held the majority of the Yoshi race, Iggy began to realize what was going to occur.

"The Yoshi Islands are currently accelerating it's rate of elevation loss." said Erzembar. "The plate that holds this land is being tilted down towards the southeast, raising the southwestern Mushroom Kingdom upwards. This will be the beginning of today's adjustments."

As if on cue, a call came in for Iggy with the source originating from the Yoshi Islands. Answering it, the globe was replaced with Yoshi's face, with numerous other Yoshi's in the background.

"Hi Yoshi." said Iggy. "I see what's happening to your homeland. I hope you are all prepared to meet the disasters that will happen today."

"Yoshi Yoshi! (Hi Iggy Koopa!)" Yoshi said. In earlier days, Iggy would have had no idea what the creature meant but with his new mind reading capabilities, this was now a different story. "Yoshi yoshi, yoshi. Yoshi yoshi? (Our islands are sinking. Do you know anything about this?)"

"The Mushroom Sea plate is tilting downwards in your area." explained Iggy. "And the Yoshi Islands are losing elevation because of it. As a result, your islands are going under the sea."

Many Yoshi's gave cries of despair then, many understanding the common tongue. "Wuahh! Yoshi yoshi yoshi...(Oh no! I hoped this day would not come so early). Yoshi yoshi, yoshi yoshi yoshi. (But we are prepared to move on to new lands if we have to). Yoshi yoshi, yosh...yoshi yoshi yoshi, yoshi. (We will be splitting up as not all tribes have the same opinion). Yoshi yoshi yoshi, yoshi yoshi yoshi? (Would it be okay if one of these moves to the jungle just south of your kingdom?)

Iggy thought about it for a moment. "That should not be a problem, actually."

"Yoshi! Yoshi. Yoshi yoshi, yoshi. Yoshi yoshi yoshi, yoshi yoshi, yoshi. (Great! Thank you. But many of us need help getting there.) Yoshi yoshi yoshi yoshi? (Would you mind if you came to the main island and helped us?)"

Iggy figured that Mario would normally do jobs like these, but with his death it seemed like the Yoshi's were desperate. "Alright, but this has to be quick."

"Yoshi! (Thank you!) Yoshi yoshi, yoshi yoshi. (We will wait for you at the highest summit.)" And with that Yoshi's face disappeared.

"Did I just hear Yoshi?" he heard Penny say, who had finally got up and made her way into the chamber.

"I need to rescue the Yoshi's, since they're facing endangerment." said Iggy. "Most of their islands are going to sink soon."

"Soon? What, today? They're all going to sink in one day?"

"12:47 today. That entire plate is tilting down. It's already flooding many of the islands. I have to do something about it, so I have to ask you to take care of things here until I get back. Well, your area at least."

"I take care of it anyway." said Penny. "Did more people come in last night or something?"

"Pretty much. Eventually I want them to come in here so they wont flood your place, but until then I need another hand here."

Suddenly, one of the satellite feeds went offline, replaced with static. "As if to prove my point." Iggy muttered to himself.

"Satellite Quentem bombarded with radioactive muron particles." stated Erzembar. "Attempting to rectify...unable to rectify. Naru is transmitting a wave of various particles towards our location, the beginning of the adjustment."

Another went offline, and Iggy retriangulated the remaining satellites to a view of the plate movement of the Earth. The Yoshi Islands plate was moving, attempting to drop to its southwest. But this view too went to static after mere moments.

"Wow, this is bad."

"Partial failure of satellite network. 46% disruption reported. Detecting mass compression of Earth's magnetosphere. Activating emergency support systems and defensive procedures."

"Authorize Penny to use your defensive and civil systems." Iggy ordered.

"As you wish." replied the artificial intelligence.

"What? Iggy, don't expect me to ace this. I never worked with such a massive AI before."

"I don't expect you to." Iggy replied, jumping off of his chair and landing next to Penny. "He'll give suggestions based upon the current conditions and suggest a course of action to take. This rest is your judgment. If I don't at least attempt to rescue these guys, then I'll never hear the end of it and that's a fact."

Penny said nothing, not having expected to wake up to this in the first place. But at least it convinced her to do something later, after this thing was over. She somewhat regretted not doing it earlier, but that was life for you: the best teacher.

"Make sure to get everyone in your shelter before it hits!" Iggy said, already making his way out of the chamber.

"I know that much!" she shouted back. Scratching her head, she looked up at the AI that Iggy had been speaking to for the past few weeks. "Greetings, Penny Crygor." Erzembar began. "Your decision has renewed my faith."

"Oh right, you can read what I think." she muttered. "So what do you think of this?"

"That it was a rather unconventional move made by the Spirit King." said Erzembar. "Perhaps to prove that the vessel matters least, with spirit matteringmost. My programming typically prohibits such pairings, intending to keep the line of Koopa intact. However, given the current situation with the Kappur and what they have shared with me, little of this matters now."

"The Kappur...that sounds familiar."

"They are a race from the constellation of the same name. They have been designated by the Star Council to be the inheritors of this world, with the Koopa race to be phased out of existence due to many reasons, including their susceptibility to selfishness from influence of the other spiritual orientation."

"Woah, slow down." said Penny, making her way up to Iggy's seat. "Let's take care of these people outside first, then you can tell me the history of the universe."

In the meantime, Iggy made his way to the hangers of Erzembar, taking out the Spirit Wand in the process.

"Hey guys, incoming." said Iggy, transmitting a message to the other wands. "Major adjustment. Brace yourselves."

"Yeah, we're feeling it here already." said Larry.

"Duly noted." said Ludwig. "I shall strategize accordingly."

Putting the wand away, he soon reached the hangers where a large cargo ship was parked. He had noted that there were a few other vehicles parked there and had kept forgetting to ask Erzembar about them. He shook his head. Even though he hated it, now was not the best time. Boarding the ship, he walked o the cockpit and fumbling about for a moment found the ignition and turned it on. The ship powered on instantly and above him a circular escape route opened up to a cloudy sky above him. Putting the ship on auto-pilot for the moment, it rose up through the opening before emerging on one of the sides of the inverted pyramid that made up a part of the Erzembar complex.

It was indeed cloudy outside, which for the desert was unusual. Iggy checked the holographic display in front of him and found the temperature to be 82 degrees, very low for a desert. An air mass must have passed down from the polar north, he thought. He would have to make this rescue attempt as quick as possible. He had a bad feeling about all of this ever since he got up.

Shifting the controls to manual, Iggy took off towards the southeast directly heading towards the Yoshi Islands. Within a few minutes, he reached the western Mushroom Sea and became more impatient about the situation. The mountains that lay far to the north of the Mushroom continent were dark in volcanic gloom, with multiple volcanoes already erupting from the northern Mushroom plains all the way to the Kong jungles. The black clouds were seen drifting towards what was now termed the "Old Kingdom," prompting Iggy to sigh at the sight. They had left just in time, it seems. But for those who had decided to stay behind, life was already getting much worse.

A loud noise interrupted his thoughts. It was not mechanical in nature, and Iggy looked out his windows to find the cause. It sounded like a quintet of un-tuned trumpets calling out to each other, and he remembered the trumpets spoken of in some of the ancient Koopa manuscripts he read years ago. He theorized that rock under tremendous stress could make such a noise, which in light of the earth changes made the most sense in theory. The plates were moving.

Suddenly, without warning Iggy's ship was blasted with air, clouds quickly moving towards his direction. His speed slowed significantly and he struggled against the onslaught, turning the ship towards the right in an attempt to try and avoid it. Below him, he saw the southwestern Mushroom Kingdom to his left and did a double take as he saw parts of the land literally rippling with waves rolling across the landscape. He didn't know how that was possible, but he had other concerns at the moment. The display in front of him warned him of decreasing altitude, which in light of seeing all engines still working didn't make sense. He looked below him and it soon become apparent that the ocean was rising up toward him. The plate was lifting up! He accelerated forward towards the other end of the plate, beating the rising water within a few minutes. But what he saw next horrified him.

The Yoshi Islands were seen below him, most of them being eroded by seawater, Dozens of villages were overrun by the tides, with Yoshi's seen scrambling for higher ground. Debris ran with the flood tide, with many struggling to hold on as they were swept inside the islands with the incoming tide.

Iggy headed for the area's namesake, a large tropical island with a solitary mountain sitting in the center of it. Upon sighting Iggy's ship, Yoshi's began to run towards him from all over the country side. Iggy landed the vessel upon the highest flat hilltop and promptly opened the cargo bay door. Almost immediately the Yoshi's swarmed into the vessel, often tripping over each other. The waves quickly approached Iggy's position however, and he knew he could not stay for long. When the waves began to lap onto the grass nearby, Iggy pulled the ship up into the air while leaving the cargo door open. More Yoshi's attempted to jump into the vessel as it slowly ascended, many flutter jumping their way to safety. Many more did not succeed, falling into the waves below to the dismay of many on board. The water converged below them, successfully submerging what was once Yoshi's longtime home. The cargo hull was a loud ruckus full of wailing Yoshi's with little order amongst the mess. Iggy knew he had to end this quickly.

Flying up, he then turned back towards the Koopahari desert to the west northwest, aiming more towards the jungles that lined it's southern territories. The turbulence was very rough, the air chaotically mixing about in the atmosphere as the globe tilted about. Below, Iggy saw a large tsunami headed straight for the southern Mushroom Kingdom shore which just went through a large Earthquake a few moments earlier. They were getting walloped for sure. Ahead of him, the shore of the Koopahari appeared to have already been hit by waves, with water rushing inland. Whatever settlements that were there appeared to have been totally over run by flooding. That meant Ludwig's Doom Sub was probably long buried in sediment, but Iggy had little use for it to begin with.

He crossed over the desert, but the engines suddenly started to sputter. A warning flashed on the console before all of the lights went out simultaneously.

"Not again..." Iggy moaned, annoyed by the electromagnetic pulses flowing through the atmosphere. Flying was becoming near impossible with this environment and now he had to save not only himself but the Yoshi's below him in the cargo bay. He steered the ship towards the southern Koopahari mountains as he descended through the sky towards them, trying to figure out how to restart the engines. With the ignition failing to start, he knew that he couldn't waste any more time. Grabbing a lever with the other hand, Iggy flew low over the jungle and tried to stay as close to the trees as possible. Eying a microphone, he took it and pushed a button.

"Sorry guys, but I lost both engines." Iggy announced. "We're over the jungle now. I'll fly as close to the trees as possible and drop you guys off. This thing is going to crash."

Naturally, their voices rose into an uproar but there was little Iggy could do to calm them now. He opened the cargo bay door again, and the Yoshi's naturally held on for dear life as the wind blew fiercely into the cargo hold.

"Jump!" Iggy shouted, and a few of them did have the courage to flutter their way out of the hold and onto the treetops below. But most of them held on, too scared to attempt the drop. Iggy was caught in a pickle then, having the Yoshi's crash with him or forcing them out of the cargo bay. Either way did not look too good, but the latter was the lesser evil in Iggy's mind despite being potentially held accountable for "killing" them.

"Don't make me force you guys out of there!" Iggy shouted into the microphone, readying the cargo drop mechanism. "It's crash or jump!" That motivated a good chunk of them to help each other jump into the trees below. Within a few minutes only a few remained on board and Iggy was not about to have any crash down with him. "Sometimes you have to nudge them a little." he thought, deciding to open the cargo drop. With cries, the remaining Yoshi's all fell simultaneously, attempting to flutter to survive. While Iggy didn't like sending people to their potential deaths, at the same time if one did not have the will to survive, they usually didn't.

Iggy passed over the jungle and into the open sands of the Koopahari desert, attempting to fly as close to the Erzembar complex as possible. This time, he decided not to try and start the engines again. He understood now that an electromagnetic surge would take much longer to fix than he had the time for at that moment. As the ship approached the sand dunes, he left the cockpit and jumped out of a door on the side of the ship, rolling onto the sand below. Moments later, the ship crashed into a dune, slicing it in half before coming to a halt inside of another one.

Iggy growled as he got up, now in the middle of the desert. Doing Mario's job was rather dangerous and time consuming. He looked around to gather his bearings and saw Erzembar not far to the northeast, with a column of smoke rising above it. "Well, that's not good." he muttered before casting a teleportation spell to the inside of the complex.

Arriving back inside, he found the interior to be a mess with small debris littering the ground.

"The Spirit King has returned." said Erzembar, talking to Penny. "I presume your duties have now ended."

"Well that's perfect." she said, getting up from his seat. "I need to check up on the outside."

"So what happened?" Iggy asked.

"Your coastlines got flooded by a tsunami." Penny said. "And there's a fire northeast of here in one of those towns. Otherwise, not much."

"Yeah I saw that. Expected that to happen. We're going to be seeing a lot of disaster today."

"On this plate?" Penny asked, pointing to the ground.

Iggy nodded. "The Mushroom Sea plate is riding over this one, so there's going to be earthquakes to the east of here. I bet we'll see a tsunami or two on the coast, but not this far inland."

"Okay. I should probably do something about those tent people." Penny mentioned.

"Well, we might get some damage to our area." said Iggy. "But the best thing to do during a earthquake is stay outside, so they're fine where they are at the moment."

"I have a feeling that a lot of these people are here to see you, even though they're camping outside of my shelter." said Penny.

"They don't know the difference." said Iggy. "They think this whole complex is mine, although that's probably a good thing."

"Yeah, I don't want everyone to storm my shelter." said Penny. "So I suppose I can no longer keep it as open as it is."

"Correct. I would hide it if I were you."

"Are you going to bring those religious nuts in here at some point?" Penny asked. "That would help."

"Eventually." responded Iggy. "I haven't physically introduced myself to them yet, and there is not enough time to do this before the adjustment. Soon after it would be what I intend." He looked at all the incoming requests for communication. "I am going to be very busy today. Next several days, actually. Once we're all accounted for I'll try to squeeze that item in there."

"I don't want them to think I'm offering them free food on your behalf." Penny alluded.

"You announced your shelter only to the Galaxy, right?" Iggy asked.

"Right."

"Then as long as your shelter's presence s not made obvious, I would not worry about it." said Iggy. "I'll be doing a few speeches for them once this is done, so they'll be distracted."

"Okay. Then I'm off."

"I made this big frapp if you want some of it." Iggy pointed to a big pot sitting on a makeshift stove on the wall. "You'll have to put the whipped cream on yourself, though."

"I always do, Iggy." she said before walking over to the pot. Iggy smiled, getting the inside joke before she even said it. Turning back around, Iggy saw that he had a waiting list of 18 entities waiting to talk with him. Funny how many didn't care for the spirit world until disaster hits them, Iggy thought. Regardless, there was only one way to do this.

Taking the globe, he mapped out the locations of the calling spirits and from that grouped them into a network together, effectively initiating a connection to them all simultaneously.

"Spirit is what matters." Iggy began. "That thing which lives on after death. Possessions do not, they're tools and tools are lost and broken. Those who live unfulfilled lives do not know their inner selves. With that in mind, I'll try to answer as many questions as I can before we are put before the disasters in front of us...in order of appearance."

The first call was focused in upon him, coming from the land that housed the Beanbean Kingdom. It seemed to be a relative to the incarnate Peasley. "Hi, what's being done about nuclear power? There's a lot of reactors here and we're worried about contamination."

"I was told that most reactors will shut down." said Iggy. "As long as the call to shut them down remains steady, then this should be the case. Until then, stay at least 10-20 miles away from them in case something happens. Next."

The view changed to what appeared to be a pile of dirt and rock, but upon closer inspection Iggy could see trees native to the Mushroom Kingdom growing in the background.

"Hi." said Toad, popping into view.

"Hi Toad." said Iggy. "Long time no see."

"Yeah. They call you a spiritual visionary now. I don't know what that really means, but I was hoping you could help me."

"Shoot."

"Well, you might know this already, but Luigi left us to go search for Princess Daisy."

"Yes, I see him." Iggy replied, momentarily tipping the globe in that soul's direction. "He's tracking across the eastern Koopa Kingdom."

"Oh he's alive! That's good." exclaimed a relieved Toad. "We were worried. But here's what I was getting to: Luigi can;t help us anymore, so the task of been put on my shoulders. I don't know much about earthquakes and we just had a bad one here, so I was wondering what's going to happen to the Mushroom kingdom in the future."

"Right now, the Mushroom Plate is riding over the plate to its south, the Mushroom Sea plate that is." said Iggy, "The land in the southwest Mushroom Kingdom is going to be rumpled upwards. I would suggest migrating everyone in that location towards the central parts of the kingdom. That area will be tropical in the aftertime."

"I remember E. Gadd saying that." said Toad. "Though I haven't seen him since then. I wonder where he is now?"

"He's at Lemmy Koopa's shelter located just south of the north pole." said Iggy. "I should let you go because things are going to get a lot worse soon."

"Okay." Toad responded. "Thank you for helping me out. Take care of yourself!"

"You too." Iggy paused for a moment, reflecting on his past. If it wasn't for Toad, then he more than likely would not be here right now. But with the list in front of him, he had to keep going. "Next."

"Hello God-king." said Waluigi.

Iggy snorted. "I am not a god," he said.

"But you are a king, yes?" Waluigi pointed out. "Just a tiny fraction better than me, yes, Maybe you can help me. Maybe you can't."

"Let me guess." Iggy said, cutting to the chase. "You arrived at Genlic and asked for help reaching Sarasaland, but my brother never responded and you've been trying to find ways to get inside."

"How did you know?" Waluigi asked, somewhat impressed. "Perhaps your brother told you. Perhaps not."

"Regardless, storming Genlic won't land you a boat." explained Iggy. "I suggest building one yourself."

Waluigi hummed to himself, clearly getting a few ideas. It was clear that he was all set.

"Next." But his globe suddenly fizzled momentarily before re-stabilizing itself.

"Hm?" He zoomed out until his vantage point was fully in space, and spun one of satellites directly towards the orange giant. It was seen moving in place, tilting itself towards the planet. It reminded him of the time when he was fleeing Naru aboard Dantek's ship, as well as the moments before his death...

"Hi there!" came E. Gadd. Speak of the devil. "I had a question, but it seems that Naru is making an advancement towards us. Ho ho! I think we should all hunker down right about now."

"Agreed." Iggy quickly stated. "Everyone else should do so now." As he said this, he saw a thick bolt of lightning cross the void between the two planets, indicating a clash of particle flows. The Earth trembled beneath his feet, immediately worrying him.

"Erzembar, there are no fault lines in this area, correct?" he asked.

"Not in the immediate vicinity." the computer responded. "However, along our coast lies the one mentioned by yourself multiple times now."

"Then that is a huge Earthquake." Iggy muttered. Interplanetary lightning increased with greater intensity as the Earth was seen tilting in place, trying to evade particle flows that the Great Destroyer assaulted her with. He zoomed in on the Mushroom Sea plate when suddenly the globe turned into a space of static.

"Satellite Querlom offline. Muron particle bombardment detected." Erzembar stated. "Attempting to rectify...unable to rectify. Re-triangulating remaining satellites." The globe reappeared, albeit with less stability than before, showing major movement in the Mushroom Sea region. The northwestern edge of the plate seemed to be tilting upwards to a small degree and to the southeast, the Yoshi Islands were now all but underwater. Iggy zoomed in on the northwestern edge of the plate, before the globe was lost again.

"Satellite Quenlem offline." Erzembar reported. "Unable to transmit surface features. Sensory array inoperability at 89%. Unable to restart satellite interconnections. Emergency landing of the satellite network is suggested."

"No, leave them there." Iggy ordered. "I don't want to have the possibility of not being able to launch them again."

"Just like the others." Erzembar commented. "Very well."

A constant rumbling erupted, the plates now in full motion. Iggy had not anticipated this plate to be so active in his area. Then again, what area would not be affected by any of this?

"Kermillion fault has activated." said Erzembar. This was unexpected.

"That fracture just southeast of here?" said Iggy. "That's not supposed to activate."

"It has not for many ages." said Erzembar. "It seems the-" A sudden jolt shook the complex, throwing Iggy from his seat and onto the floor below. "We have-" The lights went out and Erzembar never finished. Getting up, Iggy overheard the sound of crumbling rock overhead and pieces of stone fell on the ground around him. Ironically, one of them depicted a scene of workers toiling under the symbol of the great destroyer. A very large stone fell nearby Iggy, which blurred his vision into nothingness.

* * *

"What is this shit?" In front of him, Morton saw the road slowly twist and heave upwards, the pavement cracking and buckling under the stress. Wasn't this supposed to be a safe area? "All hands!" Morton said into his radio before swerving his jeep to the left, avoiding a major opening in the road. This was claimed to be a safe area, at least by Ludwig. But Morton's political gears told him otherwise, knowing better about how people operated. The Koopai was a river valley that lay between the western Koopa crags and the Andamine Sea. This put them a risk from flooding not only from the sea, but from the mountains above, draining their floodwaters from their often times treeless slopes. Morton also remembered Erzembar's warning from using Ludwig's Castle as a shelter. It seemed that Ludwig was trying to skirt this warning, but there was more to it than that. This was a river valley, lowlands. If anything happened here and there was no doubt that something would, then Ludwig's new castle would be at their rescue, supplying them with anything they needed. To Morton, it was an advanced display of soft power...to the point that the people wouldn't even know they were being controlled.

Morton decided to worry about it later as the road began to tear itself apart into an unrecognizable state. Explosions were heard behind him, and quickly turning back he saw the crags engulfed in volcanic smoke. Along the range he could see lava flows pouring down the mountain sides. The line of vehicles went this way and that attempting to avoid the debris in front of them. The road heaved upward and Morton stepped on the gas in an attempt to get over it. The jeep was more flexible than he thought and easily drove over the obstacle. However, with the broken pavement he speed had slowed considerably, more akin to driving up a rocky hillside than driving on a highway. Eventually, the rumbling ceased and so did Morton's vehicle. There was nothing but a mess behind him, of broken Earth, uprooted trees and people attempting to drive through it all.

"We're halting." Morton said in his radio. "Is anyone hurt?"

"One man on D52." came one response.

"Two are down back here, D-line." came another. The radio didn't seem to stop after that.

"Alright, we're halting for now." Morton ordered. "Medics know what to do. I'm going to chat with Lemmy who should be with us shortly and we'll figure out what to do next." He switched to a private frequency. "How's it going up there?" Morton relayed.

Lemmy, flying in his vehicle not far from his younger brother casually looked around him. "How's it going down there?" he countered.

"It's going like an obstacle course." replied Morton. "Well it was anyway. Where's Ludwig in all of this?"

Lemmy looked on his radar, then out his window. "Oh, flying northwest." he casually said.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Morton muttered. "I hope you know what he's up to."

Lemmy laughed. "Dude, I've known what he's been up to since we started this whole thing!"

"Then why haven't you done anything about it?" Morton annoyingly asked.

"Mmm, politics." Lemmy responded. "Things need to play out."

"You could easily sweep the rug from under him and take charge of this whole thing." Morton argued.

"That's not the point." said Lemmy. "People still think he's a good leader. As long as people think that way, then they won't see anything wrong with him. They haven't seen his hand yet, what he's really doing, you know? He's going to try and use the disasters as an excuse to force them to board his castle and hold them...well, virtually hostage. Once they figure this out, once he plays his hand then he'll be seen for who he is. I know he has no intention to live off the land, I mean come on. It's Ludwig, he can't live without luxury."

"If he farms at all, it'll be for whoever lives in his luxury resort that he calls a castle." said Morton. "I already see where this is going."

"Yeah. I can't do too much about it though." said Lemmy. "But I can see if everyone's okay." He nodded to his pilot, who then began to lower his cloaked ship towards the ground. "I mean, why do you think I'm staying close to him? I know he fears me. I don't want him to pull any moves in this, but...once I go north, I think you'll see him pulling a few moves."

"If he doesn't trust you, then why is he constantly saying you'll make a good king?" asked Morton.

"Come on Morton, you know better than that." taunted Lemmy.

"...right, politics." he muttered. "So he's stroking your ego."

"Taunting me too." said Lemmy. "But it's okay. He thinks he knows me, but he really doesn't."

After a moment, Lemmy seemingly appeared out of thin air not far from Morton, hopping onto the ground. "Wow." was the first thing he said upon seeing the extent of the damage. "So much for going back, huh?"

Morton chuckled. "Yeah. Better than where we were though. Hopefully we can start moving again soon."

"As long as they can track through water." Lemmy commented.

"Why? Don't tell me the bridge over the Koopai is out."

"Okay, I won't."

"Fuck." Morton looked to his north. "What about the rest of the river?"

"There's one north of here, yeah." said Lemmy. "We're going on a detour."

"Well, we're supposed to go north anyways." said Morton. "May as well start now."

"Well, aside from helping you guys out, here's my little plan." said Lemmy. "We go north. I go north a little further. The king will do his thing and people won't be too happy about it. I won't be too happy about it. If he tries anything funny, then I'll show my face again."

"Standing up to him and saying no is not the wisest thing to do." Morton said.

"That's what the people will want you to do." explained Lemmy. "Just tell them that you're for them and that you won't force them to do what Ludwig tells them."

"And if they revolt? What then?" Morton asked. "That's a real possibility. You would have to take his place and that's what they expect."

But Lemmy smiled. "I'm not going to become the king of what you know." At that he turned away, looking at the swollen Koopai river in the distance.

"I'm not going to become the king of what you know...?" Morton said to himself, trying to make sense of it.

"Yeah. I made a choice." said Lemmy. "Look out for me, alright?" He waved, then made his way over to the now dilapidated caravan.

Morton turned around to the mess before him. They hadn't even reached their destination and shit was already churning up. Whatever just happened was bad, no doubt about that. But with no electricity and no satellites, there was no way to measure the full extent of the damage. He took out his cell phone and checked for a signal, almost humoring himself.

"Nothing." he muttered to himself. The cell towers were probably down, not to mention the satellites that failed a while back. That was it, then. It was the habit of constantly using his cell phone that was the problem now. It was funny how he still had a hard time letting go of technology.

Putting his cell phone away, Morton walked after Lemmy to check up on the full damage of the caravan that was supposedly migrating to a better kingdom.


End file.
